After attending a career fair at Blackpool Football Club, I applied to do some voluntary work for the Community Trust. I was in the 2nd year of my degree studying Physical Activity, Health and Nutrition but I had no experience in the industry as my background was in hospitality.
Blackpool FC Community Trust gave me a chance to volunteer on a number of different programmes to see which area I enjoyed the most. I volunteered on the Fit2Go programme in primary schools encouraging children to live a healthy lifestyle and take part in more physical activity. I also volunteered on FIT Blackpool, a similar programme targeted at adults, giving me the opportunity to work with a range of different people in different age groups. I very quickly realised that working with adults was the area I wanted to explore further.
FIT Blackpool is a 12-week healthy lifestyle programme teaching people about nutrition alongside a number of other topics as well as encouraging people to take part in more physical activity. I enjoyed being part of the participant’s journey and seeing the changes and results they achieved not only in weight loss and fitness but, also in their increased self-esteem and wellbeing.
After 2 years of supporting the FIT Blackpool programme, I secured a full-time position when the post became available. Being given the opportunity to work within a community environment definitely improved my confidence and self-esteem and without that, I wouldn’t have had the real-life experience needed to of secured a full-time job.
