A teenager from Cambusnethan has been helped to succeed in his dream career by North Lanarkshire’s Working.

Alan Lynch, 19, was keen to pursue a career in sports education but felt that he lacked the qualifications and experience required.

Before he left school last summer, his careers advisor mentioned he might be interested in the Sporting Chance initiative, run by North Lanarkshire Volunteer Centre, a North Lanarkshire’s Working partner organisation. Sporting Chance gives young people aged between 18 and 24 an opportunity to find a career in sports coaching.Alan explained: “I had always thought I would like to be a rugby coach but by the time I was ready to leave school it seemed like it was never going to happen for me. I just didn’t have the grades or the experience to take the first step into a coaching career.

“Being taken on by the Sporting Chance programme was brilliant. For two months, I trained for two days a week at Wishaw Sports Centre, learning the basics of coaching and how to work with children to help them realise their potential. Once the course was finished, I was lucky enough to be taken on by the Scottish Rugby Union.”

He is now a full-time community coach with the SRU and trains two teams of North Lanarkshire youngsters in the sport.

Alan said: “I couldn’t be happier with the work I’m doing now. It’s exhausting to be doing so much exercise every day, but it’s brilliant to be doing something worthwhile and it’s so rewarding to see the kids getting better and better every week.”

He spends several days a month at the SRU’s headquarters at Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh, learning about new teaching methods and honing his managerial skills. He is also working towards an SVQ in Rugby Coaching.

Alan added: “If it wasn’t for Sporting Chance I’m convinced I’d be stuck in a part-time job I didn’t enjoy, studying on a college course I didn’t care about, or just unemployed and bored out of my mind.

“Instead, I’m working hard, doing something constructive for the community, and I’m already considering going to university to pursue a career as a PE teacher.”