Harvey Stapleton has been awarded the Special Achievement award winner for the 2022/23 academic year. Harvey has shown a fantastic attitude towards his work and training throughout the entire year, so we caught up with him to get his thoughts on the award:
How does it feel to win the Special Achievement award?
“I was very pleased when I was announced as the Special Achievement award winner! It’s always nice when you get recognised for your hard work.”
How important have the staff been since joining the course?
“I have a lot to thank the tutors for, as the work sometimes caught up with me and I fell behind, but the tutors always made sure to give me the extra helping hand and get me back on track. I also would like to thank Michael Raynes as he was the coach who was always there every day making jokes with us and making my time at Stockport as fun as it could be.”
What have you taken away from the Football Education programme?
“Now I have finished the course, I realised that the enjoyment of playing football everyday with your friends at a competitive level was a really good opportunity and I would love to be able to do it again. On the education side, I picked up a lot of things in my coaching module which should help me as I plan to complete my coaching badges.”
What will you be looking to do after leaving?
“After leaving County, I have looked into apprenticeships and with help from the staff, I was able to find one working for Volkswagen in the paintwork of cars. In football terms, I plan to continue playing football, hopefully at semi pro level in the future.”
What would you say to somebody looking to join the Football Education?
“I would say to anyone joining the program to go in with a hardworking attitude and you never know where you could be by the end of the two years. The standouts from my year group were Cody Johnson and Keane Barugh who both played a year up in their first year on the program and now both train and play with the first team. I think with the right attitude and listening to the coaches, players will improve a lot over the 2 years.”
