21 June 2018
Sport has always been a passion of 30 year old Rob’s, “I’ve always been involved in sport in some way – playing, volunteering and coaching – but I never expected I’d be on a university course studying it”.
At school Rob, from Cwmbran, was advised to do A levels but didn’t enjoy them, so dropped out of sixth form.
“I ended up doing unskilled labour jobs for a few years. I kept up with my rugby coaching and through working with a local rugby team I got a job coaching schools through the Wales Rugby League, but the contract was only temporary.”
Having had a taste of a career in sport, Rob was determined to study towards this and enrolled on the Sports Coaching, Development and Fitness Foundation degree at Coleg Gwent.
“I felt that not having a university qualification could limit my career options. I chose to study at the college rather than university as it saves me money and time travelling.
The course is challenging – the majority of it is theory – but I know I’m going to benefit from all the extra reading I’m doing when I graduate and start looking for that job that makes me want to get out of bed in the morning.”