Eric Horsburgh, BSc (Hons) Sports Coaching
Question:What is your current role?
Head Coach of the Northwest Academy Centres for the Vancouver Whitecaps FC.
Question:How did your honours degree at UWS prepare you for your current role?
My work experience and Dissertation whilst at UWS allowed me to prepare and understand the current role I am in. For instance, I was lucky as I did a work placement that had both on-field and office-based experience which later lead to a part time job that I could use to gain further experience. For work placement as part of my degree I was a football analyst (stats man) for an academy for half a year.
Question:Are there elements of your degree that you find particularly useful to what you do now?
Being out in work placement and doing my own research in a professional environment during my dissertation were extremely useful as this is where I got the bulk of my experience from and even later on a part-time job with the local football development department. I feel that the modules Coaching Science, Coaching Practice & Policy and Dissertation were very influential as now many of the issues and skills I learnt in those modules come up during my day-to-day work life.
Question:Do you have any recommendations for current students who would like to do something similar to you? How should they prepare?
I would not have achieved my current job if I was not willing to put myself out there first. Put yourself out there to get experience and make sure you try your best to impress whoever it is you’re working for. Word of mouth is so important in sport, especially as it is very competitive to get a job. The jobs I have been offered in Football have all been down to word-of-mouth and ex-employers recommending me for positions that they know are coming up - that’s a big part of how I got my current job!
Question:What are your plans with regards to your role, for the future? What else would you like to achieve?
In the future I want to keep working on my coach education and get onto my A licence in the next few years. Currently I am just looking at doing the best job I can in my current position so I can move up and work in bigger areas in higher performing leagues. Into the future I think that working with a university team in North America would be something great to achieve.
