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pitchcare TRAINING & education


pitchcare TRAINING & education


The Apprentice’s Story: CHRIS LANE, WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS FC


“Ever since I was a small boy watching my father and grandfather working in the garden I knew that, when I was older, I wanted to work in the Horculture industry. It wasn’t unl many years later that I started taking an interest in the sports side of the business. With my mum working at a golf course, and being a season cket holder for many years at Wolverhampton Wanderers myself, I started observing groundsmen working and taking a look at exactly what was involved. I came to the conclusion that I wanted to do


my NVQ level 2 in Sportsturf at Rodbaston College in Penkridge, Staffordshire. This is a work-based learning course, so I needed to be employed at a sportsturf business of some kind. As the course was starng in a couple of months I needed to find a placement quickly, so I wrote a leer on my computer, updated my cv and started to send them off to nearby golf courses, cricket greens and sports centres. All the places I sent to inially got back to


me prey quickly, but no vacancies were available, which then led me to send to more places with one of them being Wolverhampton Wanderers. A couple of weeks later I got a phone call from Wayne Lumbard, Head


Groundsman at Wolves, to say he was interested and would like me to come along to the Wolves friendly match against Blackburn to spend the day with the grounds team. I did so and thoroughly enjoyed my day; I got on well with all the groundstaff there, enjoyed the jobs I was given on the day, and I believe that the staff were impressed with my enthusiasm and me. A week later Wayne phoned me again to congratulate me that I had managed to get the placement on the groundstaff at Wolves and could I start the next month. I have been at Wolves for over three


months now and I am enjoying every minute of every day I work there. I aend Rodbaston College one day every two weeks to build up my porolio of evidence and key skills, while the rest of the me I spend working at Wolves at either the Molineux Stadium or the training ground in Compton. Tasks I undertake at the moment include


divong, brushing, line marking and general sport turf dues. I am soon to be taking my cerficate of competence in pedestrian mowers and tractors with aachments, as well as my PA1 and PA6 spraying licence. I plan to take as many courses as I can in the future to help me along with my sportsturf career including an NVQ level 3. I am extremely grateful to both Wayne


Lumbard and Wolves for giving me a chance and a great start in what I hope to be a long and successful career in the sportsturf industry. I hope one day I can be a Head Groundsman of a football club myself. I never thought that when I sent the leer to Wolves I would get a placement there, but I thought at least it was worth a try.” Chris’s Manager, Wayne Lumbard, became


Wayne Lumbard


Head Groundsman at Wolverhampton Wanderers FC in June 2008 and was keen to train up a young groundsman for the future, so Chris’s applicaon landed on his desk at just the right me. Wayne says: “Chris fied the bill and, hopefully, will learn the Wolves way and become an asset to the Club.


Chris Lane Chris sent in his cv with an accompanying


leer and first impressions were that he had taken the me and trouble to produce a well planned cv, so I felt he deserved an interview. I decided that this would take the form of a praccal assessment, so I invited Chris to work with us at one of our home games at Molineux. By the end of the game I knew he could be the one for us, so we offered him a Modern Apprenceship for two years which included both on the job training and study for his NVQ level 2 in Sportsturf. If Chris progresses with us onto a


permanent contract aer compleng his Apprenceship then, from the start he has made so far, there is no reason why he could not achieve a Head Groundsman posion in the future”. As Chris says, “This me last year I was sing behind a ll in a major superstore serving customers, wondering just where my career was going to take me. It’s amazing what a year, a nicely thought out leer and a cv can do for you!”


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