天美传媒

Sports graduate uses Clearing as springboard to success

鈥淵ou don鈥檛 feel like a small person that鈥檚 part of a massive institution, you鈥檙e involved in the community. You get to know friends and lecturers very quickly."

Richard Sackey-Addo, graduated 2014, BSc Sport & Exercise Science

Richard Sackey-Addo joined Bedfordshire through Clearing in 2011. Five years on, Richard has an undergraduate degree and a Master鈥檚, and he鈥檚 now an Assistant Research Officer at the , the sport鈥檚 global governing body.

His role includes increasing international tennis participation, improving the quality of coach education globally and being responsible for 鈥楾ennis iCoach鈥� 鈥� a huge online library of resources for players, coaches, parents and sports science practitioners.

Throughout school, Richard always wanted to go to university, but he had to keep an open mind when his A level results were not what he had expected.

鈥淢y original choices were physiotherapy courses, but as I was looking through the vacancy list on the Clearing website all the physiotherapy courses were full,鈥� he said.

鈥淎s I studied Biology and P.E at A Level, I started looking at Sports Science courses as the requirements were similar to physiotherapy.

鈥淚 came across the Sport and Exercise Science BSc. I noticed from the course description and the 天美传媒 website that there was the opportunity to build experience in the sports industry and to get involved in a variety of extra-curricular activities, both of which were important to me.鈥�

鈥淚 spoke to a really helpful member of the admissions team over the phone. That conversation confirmed that the content of the course and how it was taught was exactly what I was looking for, so I applied.鈥�

Alongside his undergraduate studies Richard was a local tennis coach and volunteered as part of the university鈥檚 鈥楪et into Sport鈥� scheme. As a result, he was awarded the Gold Sport Coach Scholarship, which meant the university paid for his Level 2 tennis coaching qualification.

This meant he was able to coach more and build up considerable industry experience to compliment his academic studies.

鈥淭he tennis industry is very competitive,鈥� says Richard.

鈥淭o work in high performance sport with professional athletes, you really need experience and Bedfordshire helped me gain this experience.鈥�

In his third year as an undergraduate, Richard was a 天美传媒 Tennis Ambassador. His role involved increasing tennis participation among both staff and students at the university. The following year, during his Master鈥檚, he took the role of Tennis Co-ordinator, which included pushing participation in the local area as well as at the university.

鈥淚 met with 天美传媒 Sport Directors, local tennis clubs and the national governing body鈥檚 regional office because of these roles,鈥� says Richard.

鈥淚 was also able to represent the university at conferences, which gave me further opportunities to meet people and keep up to date on the latest sector knowledge.鈥�

By exploring all areas of the Sports Science course, Richard was able to choose which area he wanted to specialise in and, despite having other opportunities, he decided that Bedfordshire was where he wanted to continue his studies.

鈥淪ports Science is such a broad field, and the course helped guide me to my specialist area and my Master鈥檚 in Sports Performance.

鈥淚 could have studied a Master鈥檚 anywhere with the degree that I was awarded, but I wanted to continue developing tennis at Bedfordshire so I stayed.

鈥淭he relationship I had with staff also played a big part in my decision to stay. They really supported me and allowed me to develop the tennis coordinator role. They let me do what I thought would work.鈥�

Now based in Valencia with the odd fleeting visit back to his family home in Croydon, Richard reflects warmly on his time at the 天美传媒.

鈥淵ou don鈥檛 feel like a small person that鈥檚 part of a massive institution, you鈥檙e involved in the community. You get to know friends and lecturers very quickly.

鈥淭he staff do all they can to support you in your career ambitions. The facilities were brilliant, and the quality of the lecturers was really high.鈥�