Aspiring sports coach lands a role with Preston North End

The global pandemic of 2020 forced the public to adapt to a host of changes, many of which took some time to get used to, like going from face-to-face interactions to Zoom calls, interpersonal learning to digital learning, not to mention the fact that the majority of team sports & training sessions were suspended indefinitely. 

This was particularly challenging for James Galt, an aspiring sports coach who is deaf. James, who is 20-years-old, has a vast experience pertaining to football coaching, including his FA Level 2 in football and futsal and The FA’s Coaching Disabled Footballers Course.

Before the pandemic, James had also been gaining experience with both Preston North End Community and Education Trust and Lancashire FA, as a volunteer. James was also awarded UK Coaching’s Young Coach of the year award in 2019.

“I have been expanding my knowledge in other areas of football” said James, “I have been volunteering at both Wildcats & walking football at PNE FC. I had also assisted at their disability sessions at Preston College & PL Kicks sessions.” 

“As a deaf person, [the pandemic] has been hard, because it is not face-to-face & everything is on the phone or online and people wearing masks makes it difficult to lip read people too.”

Like many people who struggled throughout lockdown, James was out of work, relying on his parents to help before discovering a new opportunity via the Kickstart scheme at Preston North End Community and Education Trust. The position available was perfect for James, as a Community Sports Coach.

“I am aiming to improve my confidence in communicating with others & try to build on my previous experience in football coaching.”