Coaching student wins UCLan volunteer award

UCLan Sports Coaching student Sophie Morrison's dedication to volunteering was rewarded as she scooped a prestigious university prize.

After completing over 1,000 hours work during her time at UCLan, Sophie was crowned Student Volunteer of the Year 2015 at the recent Centre for Volunteering & Community Leadership Awards.

Sophie has worked with three different organisations, UCLan Taekwondo, The King's School at Pontefract and Ultimate Taekwondo, regularly going the extra mile to boost her future career prospects.

She has gained a wealth of coaching and teaching experience at junior and senior level, and has worked both nationally and internationally over the past three years.

Sophie, who plans to undertake a Master's degree after graduating this summer, said she was delighted to receive the award.

"To be recognised for my work over the last three years is a great feeling," said Sophie. "I've been able to put what I've learnt into practice outside of the university, whilst having the opportunity to travel all over Great Britain and into Europe."

Division Leader Leona Trimble added: "Sophie's award is extremely well deserved. We encourage all our students to gain as much practical experience as possible to help them achieve their career goals, and Sophie has definitely embraced this ethos. She has a bright future ahead of her to look forward to."

The highlight of Sophie's extensive volunteering was her recent trip to the Netherlands with the Ultimate Taekwondo team, where she worked as their Performance Analyst at the Dutch Open. Sophie filmed each performance, giving one-to-one feedback to the athletes to help them during the competition.

Team Coach Kathy Hook commented: "Sophie's work has been extremely beneficial and the analysis has been very professional and well delivered. Her feedback to the students has been very useful, always making it clear to them what she was highlighting.

"I hope Sophie continues to work with Team Ultimate, as she has been a great asset to the team and her input would be sorely missed."