Adam’s story

Adam is 25, a talented footballer from Wirral. He always wanted to follow in his grandad’s steps and be a professional footballer. Unfortunately, worsening epilepsy meant he had to leave the academy he was training with.

Determined to stay in the world of football, he set his sights on becoming a coach instead. Adam was happily volunteering as a coach for Chester FC under 10s, when Covid-19 hit.

‘‘As I had just turned 25 I was aware that I was on the ‘age group cusp’ of getting support as a young person. I was working with an organization that was supporting me with training and advice and looking for jobs when I heard about Reach Up.’’  

Adam had already been trying to coach young people online, so he knew how hard it was to facilitate a Zoom session. Seeing how Reach Up was facilitated taught him a lot, including how to manage breakout rooms.

When asked what he found most useful, Adam said:

“Going to interviews and getting knocked back can be a blow for me. I’m a confident person but it can be difficult being knocked back. I’ve even been laughed at in interviews before, which has knocked me a bit, so getting feedback this time was good. The volunteers said loads of positive things and gave me loads of reassurance that I’m doing the right things; it means I’m not second guessing myself in the future. The Job Centre would always have a go at me each week for jobs I didn’t apply for, so this experience was way more positive.’’  

”From that aspect it has helped me a great deal with connecting and has given me a good insight into everything else. If there was a factory around Chester I would give CocaCola a try and work there.’’  

Adam is still working closely with north-west based charity Youth Fed, and plans to help run some of their other programmes soon. He will also be putting his training bursary from Reach Up towards his level 1 coaching certification.