The Struggles of the application process

The Arsenal Gap Year Programme, where do I start?.. Oh yes that’s right! Way back in March 2012, at this point I was in year 10 studying for my GCSEs (approximately 15 years old). As a teenager you often wonder what you’re going to do in the future.. And I would often just sit and think about what career path I would choose? I at one point wanted to be a detective, and then an architect, however, sport had always been a passion of mine since I was small. After choosing which subjects I would study at school, I couldn’t wait to start studying GCSE PE, and to learn about the scientific background in sport really interested me, after learning about it for two years I knew exactly what field I wanted to go into.

I knew that I wanted to study sport further at college which I went on to do and then eventually at university, however, I didn’t feel as if at the time I was ready to go to university and that I needed to gain something that would benefit me whilst at uni, this something happened to be a number of things, such as, life experience, teaching experience and also to gain confidence. Which now leads me onto the conclusion that I needed a gap year before heading off to uni.

When you generally come to the idea of having a gap year, one would use google to search for ideas on what to do with it.. And that’s when I came across “The Arsenal Gap Year Programme”. When I first came across the programme and read all the information, and had a look at photos of previous participants I was hooked, I knew that I had to apply for this! However, there was one problem in that I had to wait about three years before I could finally apply, due to being only being 15 I first had to finish school, and also college. Once I’d finished college and turned 18 I couldn’t wait to print out the application form, fill it out and send it off! All I had to do now was wait for an email from Arsenal telling me if I had been given an interview or not..

After about two-three weeks of coming home everyday and refreshing my emails, I had finally received an email from Arsenal stating “congratulations we would like to invite you for an interview” which of course resulted in multiple knee slide celebrations around my house.. However, it came to realisation that I only had five days to prepare myself for the most important interview and only interview of my life so far. Which you can imagine was extremely stressful!

Anyway the day finally came in which I had to travel up to Arsenal for my interview, which was very nerve wrecking to say the least, the amount of sweat I produced probably wasn’t normal (just a little shoutout to everyone at Lynx and your deodorant for getting me through it). I remember sitting in the waiting area repeatedly going over potential questions that I may or may not be asked just to pass time. Then I was called into the interviewing room where I met Steve Eadon and Dean Miller for the first time, and being informed that if I’d got a placement then I would be working with them, so yes I felt the interview overall went well, that’s what I kept telling myself. After the my interview had finished and I’d finished interviewing them, I left with a massive weight off my shoulders and with fingers crossed. I had been told that I would be notified if I had been successful or not either way.

So, therefore, the weeks that followed yet again entailed me refreshing my emails at least three times a day. Two weeks after my interview I had received the email from Arsenal.. Did I get a place or not? Well if I didn’t then I probably wouldn’t be writing about it right now would I? Yes, to much excitement and relief I had been offered a place on “The Arsenal Gap Year Programme”. I would start on Monday the third of August!

Monday 3rd August 2015..

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