I’ve always loved sports. My earliest memories are sitting in the Bob Bank of Ninian Park and the stands at Sophia Gardens are embedded in my memories.
As well as football and cricket being my real passions in sport, I also fell in love with American sports and once I started watching basketball and the others I just couldn’t stop.
With the start of this course I have also had to deal with another factor that has prevented me from getting the most out of the experience so far.
When I was 13 I was diagnosed with a condition called Osgood Schlatter’s Disease. This meant that as I was an active sportsman and still growing my muscles could not keep up with the growth. This then caused the muscle to rub against my bone which caused a lot of discomfort in my everyday life.
This was made even more difficult as my biggest sporting passion at the time was long distance running. I represented my school for cross-country. which led to running for Cardiff Harriers, Newport Harriers and even representing Wales in European heats.
I even had training from former sprinter and Commonwealth bronze and silver medallist Christian Malcolm. However, as my workload increased the more the pain in my knee increased and the strain eventually became too much.
I stopped all of my running and tried to focus on recovering and reducing my knee pain. Last Summer, the pain changed and became so overwhelming that I had to get it looked out.
It turns out that three bits of bone had chipped away and were pushing into the soft tissue of my knee. Travelling to the city centre campus everyday was becoming a burden but I remained persistent.
Three weeks ago I finally had the operation required and can now take full advantage of the opportunities that are coming my way.
I have started writing for football website The72, travelled around South Wales reporting along the USW sports teams, reporting on Cardiff City games in the press box and I could be going to London to gain work experience as a cricket writer at The Times. I also have started a cricket podcast with a fellow first year called Bales for Wales.
I cannot speak highly enough of how the course lecturers have treated me during the turbulent start to my course experience. The opportunities that I’ve been given so early on in the course are amazing and I can’t wait to see what waits for me in the future.