Today we are focussing on the Sports, Active Health and Fitness career sector and we’re speaking to our own Yusuf Shah, iTEC and VTCT’s Qualification Lead for Sport, who has followed an interesting path to get to where he is today.
When Yusuf left school at 16, he had only a few qualifications and went straight into a job in plumbing. But he realised quickly that it wasn’t for him and decided after a lot of thought to go back into education, taking A Levels in Sports Studies and Maths, two of the subjects he had enjoyed most during his school career.
He worked hard to achieve good enough grades to get into university, where he studied further for a degree in Sports Science. After graduation, this led to a successful career in the Sports Fitness industry. He had found his niche, something he was good at and enjoyed too.
After some time in the sector, Yusuf decided to move into teaching to pass on what he had learned to others. He began teaching part-time, whilst undertaking a Masters in Exercise and Health Science. His extensive experience in health and fitness naturally led him on to Sports Therapy and Sports Injuries and then on to Sports Massage. In addition, he has carried out research into soft tissue treatments for common problems such as back injuries, and has completed a PhD in Sports Therapy.
Yusuf also found time to run his own private clinic, where he treated clients with sports and muscular/skeletal injuries, including Paralympian athletes.
Since qualifying, his teaching and assessing experience has grown to be extensive, including teaching Sport Therapy learners at the University of Kent and working for a private training provider teaching Sports Massage, which is when his relationship with VTCT first began. He joined us at first as an External Quality Assurer and several years later is now our Qualification Lead for Sport.
Yusuf loves that in his current role he is able to immerse himself in the subject area that he is most passionate about, and can help anyone embarking on a career or learning journey in sport and inspire them to achieve their goals.
His advice for anyone thinking of embarking on a career in Sport is to “look at the diverse range of opportunities available in the sector at the moment, identify the career goal you want to achieve and the learning journey that will get you there and be proactive and motivated to continue to work towards that goal. And keep learning, the sector is forever evolving.”