Local student signs pro football contract

A student studying sport at Newcastle-under-Lyme College has signed a professional contract with Crewe Alexandra Football Club.

John Johnston, aged 18 from Silverdale signed the contract following a series of trials where he was put through his paces before the Railway Men’s Manager Steve Davis deciding to offer John a one year professional contract.

The former Newcastle Community High School pupil plans to continue his studies at college alongside his professional football career.  John joined NULC in September 2012 where he studied the Level 2 Diploma in Sport before progressing to study the Level 3 Extended Diploma in Sport (Coaching and Fitness) in September 2013.  John is in his first year of the two year course.  He said: “I really enjoy college, I have a good group of friends and the staff have been fantastic in developing me both as player on the pitch as well as with my studies.  I want to continue studying at NULC as it’s important to me to have the professional qualifications needed for a career in coaching later in life.”

Shelley Brown, Head of Faculty for Vocational Studies at NULC, said: “The sports provision available at NULC is outstanding, we have top class facilities, industry level coaching and inspirational teaching, all of these factors work hand in hand to provide students like John with the best opportunities of succeeding in their chosen career path.”

Whilst studying at NULC, John is also an active member of the College’s multi award winning Academy of Sport, where he played for the College’s Football Academy against colleges from across the country in the British Colleges Sport (BCS) league.

Trevor Humphreys, Academy of Sport Manager, said: “We’re all extremely proud of John’s success, he has shown commitment and hard work to training as well as his studies.  The hard work is really paying off as he signs a professional contract for a local club, showing fellow youngsters what is possible if you train and study at NULC.”

The College’s latest Ofsted report was published last week which ranks the College’s sport provision as ‘outstanding’.  The report praises the sport departments ‘innovative teaching methods’ and ‘aspiration teaching’, stating that ‘teaching, learning and assessment are outstanding, which leads to high success rates that are substantially above national averages for the majority of vocational courses.’

To find out more about studying Sport at NULC visit www.nulc.ac.uk or contact the Information Point on 01782 254254 or email info@nulc.ac.uk.