Club's charity arm praise recent achievements of one of their young apprentices
HFE, who specialise in delivering personal trainer courses and fitness apprenticeships, are celebrating the success of apprentice Poppy Haslam, a staff member at Bolton Wanderers Community Trust.
Poppy, from Bolton and a lifelong Wanderers fan, has held an interest in sport from a very young age, particularly football.
Over the past 12 months meanwhile she has worked incredibly hard to achieve her apprenticeship in Activity Leadership.
During this time, she has been involved in some high profile football projects, including Premier League Girls, an initiative designed to help more girls get into football.
Poppy has also been involved in numerous fundraising events for Bolton Wanderers Community Trust as they celebrated their 30th anniversary this year.
Having dedicated a lot of time to developing her football coaching skills and gained a several key qualifications in the process, the 19-year-old is now hoping to gain her UEFA B Licence, a path that could eventually lead her to coaching in the professional game.
Speaking about Poppy's achievements, Paul Makinson, Head of School Partnerships at BWCT, said: "During her time at BWCT, Poppy has progressed from an apprentice into a full-time, employed member of staff.
“Throughout the apprenticeship, she developed skills and qualifications with regards to leadership and sports-specific awards, confidently delivering aspects of sessions alongside a lead coach.
“Poppy now delivers regular sessions across numerous projects independently. Her attitude and work ethic have always been extremely positive and played an important role in securing her current position within the Trust."
Echoing the praise from BWCT is her NVQ Apprenticeship Tutor Gregg Travers, himself a lifelong Bolton Wanderers fan, who said: "Over the past 12 months Poppy has been a fantastic apprentice to work with. She always turned up to our visits on time, went above and beyond what I had asked her to complete and the work which she submitted was of a brilliant standard.
“She has grown in confidence over the past 12 months which has been a pleasure to see. She has also taken control of different projects, with managing and coaching the girl’s football team at Bolton College being just one of them.
“Poppy has a bright future ahead of her and I have no doubt in saying that she will make a fantastic coach for BWCT.”
For more information on HFE, please visit www.hfe.co.uk.