Yeah, so name's Paul Heckingbottom. Career's always been in football, so playing career and then going on and being a coach and then further down the line a manager. So that's why I've been inducted into the Hall of Fame. It'd be, definitely be for the coaching achievements rather than the playing one.
It's a big honour. I mean, this was a big part of my coaching journey. Leeds Beckett, when I came, I came back as a mature student, 30, early 30s and yeah, and then did an undergrad degree and then a masters afterwards. And six months in and once I sort of got my head around the relating everything I was doing to what I was doing coaching wise, then yeah, I dived straight into it. And it allowed me to get a lot more knowledge and a lot more out of these qualifications really than the governing body ones that the FA put on. So they had a big, big part of my learning.
Not everyone who goes into sport early maybe is comfortable going down the academic route. So I think one really important thing is to make it as accessible as possible and then as relative as possible to what ex athletes, sports people are doing. But I think certainly they do add a different dimension to your learning. And I'd always encourage universities in particular to be different to the governing body qualifications, because otherwise you're just doing the same. So I think the fact that they are different, the fact that you're encouraged to learn in a different way and also explore different avenues that aren't necessarily to do with the particular sport that you're working in can only add to your to your growth as a coach.
Yeah, there's a lot of MBEs and OBEs after names up there. So yeah, it just shows how much of an honour it is. And, but like I said, I think for me, the reason I'm here is more to support what the uni does and to show a bit of my appreciation back. So I speak to a lot of people here and yeah, it is. It's a, it was, like I said, a big part of my journey as a coach, but just I really enjoyed my time here.
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2025
