When leaving school, I never had a clear path like a lot of my friends did. I always felt lost, unable to pinpoint what my future would be. I tried a few different things; different college courses, working full-time and coaching. However the only thing I was ever really interested in was coaching gymnastics. I decided to do as much coaching as I could whilst also still working a full time job for income. When it came to Christmas 2017, I realised that I was becoming too comfortable and not exploring to discover myself and what i wanted to do with my future. I decided i wanted to venture out of my comfort zone and step away from what I always knew.

The next step for me was a journey away, meeting new people and discovering and experiencing new things. I traveled to the USA on my own to take part in the Americamp programme. This changed my whole persona. I gained more confidence, and skills than I knew I was capable of.

After this trip I knew I had more to offer than what I had been spending my time doing, I realised that I needed to stop being scared and challenge myself again.

I still wasn’t sure exactly what I wanted to be my next challenge, but I spent some time thinking and the more I thought, the more I realised how rewarding it was, when on camp in the US, helping the children develop insane amounts of skills over a period of time and watching it unfold. I saw children turn from shy, anti-social individuals, to making heaps of friends and going out of their comfort zones to try a lot of new activities; from swinging on the trapeze, to gaining the confidence to stand up in front of the whole camp and sing on a microphone.

Having the opportunity to help these young people to develop and grow was something that I knew was special. I knew it was something that I wanted to continue doing and could do well. That’s when the idea came to me…. teaching.