Tyler Fung was on track to return to school after GCSEs but a visit to an open evening at South Eastern Regional College (SERC) convinced him to enrol at the college and follow his sporting interest. Tyler who is 17, explains,
“Talking to the tutors at SERC, I realised I would prefer to specialise in one subject and I am a very sporty person – I'm involved in football and boxing – so the Traineeship in Sport, where you could work on your own fitness and skills as well as gaining a qualification, sounded an ideal start, and it was close to home!
“My favourite part is probably getting to use the gym; the facilities are perfect. You have everything – cardio machines, bench press, treadmills, ski machines, so you focus on a particular muscle group which allows other parts of the body to recover. I also like the coursework where we cover anatomy and so on. As a class, we usually go down to the hall and play badminton or basketball, and we do the beep test and speed and agility test, which all help us to reflect on what we have learnt in class. It’s also a great way to get introduced to the rules and procedures of sports – for example, I didn’t know anything about badminton before coming to SERC. The teachers are all good - good craic, too. You feel more of an adult than you did at school.”
A work placement, with real-life experience, is an important element of the traineeship programme and for Tyler, that will mean time spent in a gym or a school. He says,
“I wouldn't mind being a PE teacher, as I like helping people learn about different sports, and I love learning about the human body and what it can do, and I would like to teach people what I have learnt. This course is a good first step for that. I would definitely recommend SERC. Since I got here, I’ve made loads of good friends, and the learning experience is excellent. I like concentrating on one subject and studying in depth, where you get specialised knowledge.”
