STUDENT: Andy Lee AGE: 17
POSITION: Apprentice groundsman, Coventry City FC
PLACE OF STUDY: Warwickshire College
At the end of his first year of a two year Level 3 NVQ in sportsturf management, Andy Lee is looking forward to a summer of reflection, lots more hard graft at Coventry City FC and visits from his college assessor Gary Armstrong.
The first meeting has already taken place, in
fact. “Gary chatted with me about my assignments and any problems I’ve encountered. He went through quite a few things and completed evidence worksheets,” recounts Lee.
“You have to go through the paperwork, ticking off every box and then adding evidence. I’ll have it completed by mid-June I reckon.”
One assignment that loomed large in Lee’s mind was a major construction project to install an irrigation system around two pitches at Coventry’s training ground. Nearing completion at the time of going to press, the project proved a source of both inspiration and frustration, as he explains.
“The course requires you to undertake a construction assignment but I was struggling to find one, until I hit on the idea of using the irrigation scheme as my example.” Not everything went ahead silky smooth however and Lee confesses to surviving “a challenging few weeks” as it was discovered that one of the training pitches had been laid directly on to an old car park. “We had to open trench round the perimeter so that we could dig down deep enough to lay pipework and cables,” he explains. “Then there was all the backfilling to complete.” After all that comes the task of writing it up. “You have to go through the paperwork, ticking off every box and then adding evidence. I’ll have it completed by mid June I reckon.”
Punctuating the summer months will be further items of coursework that Lee wants assessed and ticked off, he says, before September comes around again for the start of year two of his one day a week release course. Despite its greater emphasis on management issues, Lee looks forward to knuckling down to his studies. “One of the aspects of the course that I enjoyed this year was looking at spreadsheets and budgets. There’s more of that in year two, along with a separate section on irrigation because it’s such a big field and feeding programmes. He also enjoyed meeting sales representatives who visited Coventry. “They give you a different perspective on the industry. I learned about ordering and pricing.” Coming straight to Coventry City FC from school at 16, Lee not 18 until July understandably still has certain skills to assimilate before developing the fully rounded profile that the likes of head groundsman Mike Finch would expect from grounds staff. But his apprentice is coming along well, he reports. “Andy’s been involved heavily with renovation this year, mostly at the training ground, and he’s on a learning curve to develop his personal skills but he has age on his side and he works well and I’m sure it will not be long before he becomes fully aware of the consequences of what he does here.” Clearly, Finch works to the high standards that he knows the company must deliver for players and management alike. “We’re a multi site company, running three difference grounds and the club is becoming progressive at what we do, so we all have to keep moving forward.” Finch is happy “to have Andy back” until later in the summer and seems acutely aware of the loss to the operation of an apprentice away qualifying for a day a week. “Much is down to how Andy applies himself now,” Birch adds. “Another year building his skills and I’m sure he’ll be in a position to further develop within the company.”
PENCOED COLLEGE
For information regarding courses in Horticulture
and Sports Turf Maintenance, please contact Pencoed College on (01656) 302600
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