The NPL Football Academy (NPLFA) is delighted to announce that Kidsgrove Athletic student Dan Ingram is progressing onto the NPLFA’s ‘Undergraduate Sports Degree’ in partnership with Loughborough College at Leek Town.
Since creating the programme in 2017, the NPLFA are offering two types of blended learning courses that will last three years – a BSc in Sports Coaching to gain valuable work experience at a semi-professional club while obtaining coaching qualifications and a BSc in Sports Management covering the football industry and a host of cross-transferable skills.
The defender is now extending his stay with the NPLFA and is looking forward to starting next month. Dan said: “I cannot wait to get started and I am really excited for it to begin. I chose the degree course as my next step because it offered the opportunity to remain doing the practical part of the course with the group I know and the theory is done by distant learning via the blended route and I really didn’t see myself doing any other course than this one.”
With ambitions of becoming a football coach, Dan feels he is on the right programme to achieve this. He said: “I would love to be able to go into professional football coaching later in life because this is something I’ve always being interested in and I feel like I have already learnt a lot from the coaching I’ve had with my time at the NPLFA.”
Extending his stay for a further three years, the previous two years have been enjoyable and the programme is one that Dan would recommend to school leavers in the local area.
Dan said: “The last two years have been good, being part of a great team and meeting new mates during my time with the NPLFA and also enjoying my football. I found the BTEC in Sport Level 3 enjoyable as it was something I was interested in after I finished high school. I would highly recommend the NPLFA to any year 11 student because it gives you the chance to gain your BTEC in Sport Level 3 as well as being a part of an academy team where you get to travel round the country to play at semi-professional grounds. Also you get quality football coaching on the practical side of the course which is something I really enjoyed and is something I would highly recommend. Whilst you do your BTEC qualification, you get really good tutors who make the theory side of the course fun and enjoyable for you.”
Everyone at the NPLFA would like to wish Dan the very best of luck on our degree course and we look forward to catching up with him during his first year.