Young footballer encourages others to ‘Walk in My Shoes’ at BCUC

A former football scholar from Burnley is hoping to inspire children and young people after finding a love of coaching through his degree programme at BCUC.  

Kasom Shah, 21, a former football scholar at Accrington Stanley, enrolled at BCUC when he needed a ‘plan B’ after experiencing setbacks to his dream of playing professional football. 

Drawn to the campus’ state-of-the-art sport facilities, the former Blessed Trinity RC College is now in his third year studying BSc Sport & Exercise and is encouraging others to find their feet at BCUC.

Kasom explained: “I knew I wanted to do something within sport, but I just didn’t know where to start.  

“I looked at lots of different universities but decided I wanted to stay close to home. I found the course on BCUC’s website, rang through and ended up going for a chat with one of the course tutors on the same day.” 

Kasom lives at home and was eager to balance studying with playing semi-professional football for Barnoldswick FC and his part time job at River Island in Burnley town centre. 

He said: “BCUC has a brand new sport complex and offers an Elite Athlete Programme with weekly training sessions and support from former professional coaches and sports scientists – including British Cycling.

“Through the course, I’ve also had the opportunity to deliver coaching sessions with local schools and sports groups, which has been a fantastic experience and really helped me to realise which areas of sport I want to focus on.” 

Thrilled to find that studying at BCUC was a completely different experience to being back at school, Kas has been impressed with the flexibility and personal approach at BCUC.

He said: “Classes are small and my tutors all know who I am and what I kind of life I have outside of uni. It’s a personal approach that has really helped me find my confidence.

“I now want to progress onto a PGCE course and become a teacher, something I hadn’t even thought of before enrolling at BCUC.”   

Alongside Kas, four BCUC students are sharing their experiences of returning to education through an interactive campaign across Burnley and the surrounding areas. 

Residents are encouraged to look out for information boards featuring worn pairs of shoes, hosted by local shops and businesses, and scan the QR code to find out more about life at BCUC and how it has changed the lives and futures of the people featured. 

Find out more at https://www.burnley.ac.uk/bcuc-in-my-shoes/