Meet: Tom
Oaklands is one of the few colleges in the country which is recognised by the Rugby Football Union as a centre of excellence, which was an influential factor behind former Oaklands College student Tom's decision to apply for a BTEC Level 3 Extended Diploma in Sport & Exercise Sciences.
Name: Tom
Course: BTEC Level 3 Extended Diploma in Sport & Exercise Science
Oaklands is one of the few colleges in the country which is recognised by the Rugby Football Union as a centre of excellence, which was an influential factor behind former Oaklands College student Tom’s decision to apply for a BTEC Level 3 Extended Diploma in Sport & Exercise Sciences.
Hertfordshire-born rugby fanatic Tom first developed his love for the sport from an active childhood spent living in Belgium. Upon returning to the UK aged 11, he represented Tring RFC and Hertfordshire Rugby at under 18s and 20s county level.
Tom’s love for rugby developed into a keen interest in coaching, after completing his BTEC Level 3 Extended Diploma in Sport & Exercise Science, achieving a DMM at Oaklands College.
His passion and determination, along with his qualifications from Oaklands College took him to the University of South Wales, where he would graduate with a Bachelor of Science in Rugby Coaching and Performance, followed by a Master of Science in Sports Coaching and Performance.
Following graduation from university, Tom now works full-time at retired international England rugby superstar Lawrence Dallaglio’s foundation ‘Dallaglio RugbyWorks’, a social inclusion which is an intensive, long-term skills development programme based on rugby, which aims to get teenagers outside of mainstream education and into sustained education, employment or training.
Speaking of the major highlights from his career to date, Tom cites his work with the foundation as his proudest achievement, adding “myself and two other coaches ran a session in a youth offenders institute, it was clear to see that the prisoners gained a lot from the session and these individuals, who were at a troubled time in their lives, benefitted highly from the session that was delivered.”
Tom’s advice for any prospective academy based students inspired by his story to; “Set yourself a goal, something that you want to aim for. Without that goal, I probably wouldn’t have knuckled down in my second year of my BTEC, and potentially coasted along until I finished the course. Whereas instead, I had the goal of going to university to study rugby coaching and performance, a unique course, where I would specialise in the sport that I love to play and be involved in, which helped me focus on achieving the grades needed to fulfil the entry requirements.”
If you are inspired by Tom’s story and wish to learn more about our Wolves Rugby Academy click here, alternatively our next rugby open day is Monday 18th February 2019.
Set yourself a goal, something that you want to aim for. Without that goal, I probably wouldn’t have knuckled down in my second year of my BTEC.
