Just Start

The beginning of my journey - by Daniel Ferguson

How it all begun?

In Summer 22, me and my family were on our way up to a place known as Dunfermline in Scotland for our traditional yearly trip to visit some friends. Now at this point in my life I was 17 years old, just finished my first year of college and knew soon I had to make a decision about university. Originally from Chilwell in Nottingham, I was studying Maths, Biology and Psychology at Chilwell Sixth Form. Within my first year, I had also completed what's known as an Extended Project Qualification: an EPQ. It took some time do decide what I wanted to do this project on; I had ideas of building a wooden robot (this was never going to happen), possible thoughts of a debate between the two greats Messi and Ronaldo and something football based. Eventually I settled for sports psychology. My head of sixth form (Mrs Fyles) was of great help: I've always had a passion for sport, playing football from the age of 5, tennis for a few years, athletics from 11-16 and I also played for Nottingham Univerity's futsal academy for a couple years. Mrs Fyles suggested the field of sports psychology may be a potential career path, why not do a research project on the topic and discover if the career interested me? 

Before the journey to Scotland, I had been pondering for a while about my university application when I returned back to college in year 13. Where should I study? What should I study? What's best for me? However, during the drive up, I had a little moment of realisation, it felt like a few seconds of peace, a direction towards a certain path: I wanted to go down the route of sports psychology. Now this sounds like something out of a movie, but it genuinely felt like a light bulb moment. It just made sense.

I believe it was the research I did during my EPQ which would have led me to this thought process. The project ended up being based on the effects of sports psychology on performance. Including topics such as: What is sports psychology? What are the different mental techniques that athletes use? Is sports psychology more effective in team or individual sports? Physiological vs psychological training. It's interesting when you are deciding what to do with your life: the small details which fall into place and the moments which lead you down your life's journey. I'll always look back at that EPQ and that moment during our family's drive up to Scotland as the spark which ignited the flame of my career trajectory.

In year 13, I just knew what I wanted to apply for at this point, I was the first to apply in my year group. I applied for an undergraduate bachelors degree in psychology at Newcastle University, Northumbria, University of Manchester, University of Sheffield and Sheffield Hallam. After the initial application I went on to apply for Newcastle as my firm choice and Northumbria University as my insurance. Newcastle was the target. I loved the facilities when I visited for an open day, my Grandad lived nearby in the surrounding Northumberland area and I felt an initial connection to the place. During year 13 I racked up hours of revision: ABB was what was required of me for Newcastle. Commonly during a period of time such as A levels, questions of doubt consume your mind, is this work worth it? Why am I even doing this? But to bring myself to ease, my self talk involved phrases such as: "If you try your best, you can never be disappointed with the outcome" and "your best efforts will lead you into the places you are meant to be in life". During those months of studying my self talk lead me into a positive direction. I put my best efforts into my exams: the outcomes of that effort now awaited round the corner.

Come results day I was prepared for whatever 3 letters were to appear on that paper, I'm not going to say I didn't desire Newcastle University, as it was a "Russel Group" University, however, I knew I had given my best efforts: the outcome was what was meant to be. Instantly, when I arrived at the sixth form, my maths teacher gave us a disclaimer that me and my classmates overall had achieved a grade lower than predicted, at this moment, I got the sense I didn't quite achieve that ABB. I opened the results, I had achieved BCC. As much as this should have felt like a slap in the face, my positive self talk throughout the process of the exams lead me to understanding that this is where my best efforts were destined to lead me to. In September, I begun at Northumbria University.

First year at University

My first year of University was everything I could have asked for. I got along with all my flatmates very well, became part of a great friendship group and fell in love with the city. Very little did I find myself wishing I was at Newcastle University. I got to spend more time with my grandad, won the intermural league 7 a side cup with my mates, in which we created a team called Come Tyne With Me, and I made well-grounded connections within sports psychology. These connections sprouted through meeting a man known as John Fleetwood, who I couldn't thank enough for the opportunities he's provided me with. We met when I was working on the bar at a pub called Red house by the Quayside of Newcastle: he introduced me to another great bloke, David Charlton, who has inspired me along my journey in the field and gave up time to speak with me, providing knowledge he's accumulated throughout his own journey. Connecting with David allowed me to connect with some other great people: Brian Hemmings (who's research papers I've been studying), Christopher Kirkland (who took the time to have a phone call with me, offering his personal advice) and Anthony Taylor (who I've appreciated his words of advice and kindness greatly, he even inspired the title of this blog).

First work experience

Through David Charlton, John Fleetwood provided me with my first set of work experience, as of yet, I have now successfully delivered two sports psychology workshops at an amateur swimming club: Leek ASC. Me and John are running a 6 session programme based on motivation for kids (ages so far ranging from 11-15). 

The first session was an introduction to the topic of motivation, we:

• posed the question WHY swim?
• introduced high and low levels of motivation and what this looks like
• introduced intrinsic and achievement motivation with a range of engaging activities, breaking these terms down into simple components

The second session was based on motivation as an individual, we:

• created a Leek ASC motivation definition and plan to mould this throughout the next sessions
• posed the question, What works best for you?
• also posed the question, Why not swim? Discovering areas of demotivation for the kids
• did some coach and athlete roleplay: diving into how coaches and athletes should work together when the athlete feels demotivated

Considering we've been asked to run 2 hour sessions, the engagement has been at a strong level throughout - even after 2 hours of swimming in the early morning.

Honestly, Just Start

I look forward for what's to come in my journey, to people reading this, have trust in your process, process drives outcome, and as long as you are putting your best efforts in and being in tune with who you are and strive to be in this world, it will all play out the way the way life intends. Questions may be spinning around in your head, uncertainty of where to begin, however as I did, just start.

To end: a great thanks to Jamie Martin, who pushed me to kickstart this blog.