YOUNG people are being offered new opportunities to work in the sport and leisure industry, thanks to new initiatives between Tees Valley Leisure and Redcar and Cleveland College.

Tess Valley Leisure (TVL), which runs leisure centres in Eston, Redcar, Guisborough, Saltburn and Loftus, will launch two programmes next year with the sole purpose of getting local young people into employment.

Working in conjunction with Redcar and Cleveland College, the organisation is planning to start an apprenticeship programme from next April, enabling people with a passion for sport and fitness to learn the skills of the trade while gaining qualifications and earning a wage.

And TVL is also about to launch a new ten-week learning programme for Neets – people not in education, employment or training – which they hope will get people off benefits and give them a taste for working in the sport and leisure industry.

Amanda Walker, HR and training manager for Tees Valley Leisure, said the organisation had worked successfully with the college for a number of years and wished now to take that partnership to a new level.

Since 2005, 300 students studying sport and recreation at the college have had placements at one of TVL’s leisure centres for weekly day-release, which has enabled them to gain vital work experience during their courses.

As a result, 29 of those students have managed to secure permanent jobs with TVL at the end of their studies – the latest being Simon Richards, who started a full-time job in August.

“Tees Valley Leisure is committed to working with and helping the communities where our centres are based, so it is very important to us that we provide good employment and training opportunities wherever we can,” said Ms Walker.

“Our partnership with Redcar and Cleveland College is excellent.

“Over the years they have provided us with some superb students who have worked hard and been committed to learning, so when jobs became available they were in a good position to apply for them.

“Now we want to take that partnership one step further by offering apprenticeships and courses for Neets. We want to see as many local people as possible with employment and training opportunities and we want to not only offer local people jobs, but a route to a real career.”

Simon, 21, from Middlesbrough, works at Redcar Leisure Centre as a fitness instructor.

He said: “I started doing a placement with Tees Valley Leisure while on a course at Redcar and Cleveland College and haven’t looked back since.

“The course was excellent and the placement gave me the on-the-job training that I really needed. If I hadn’t been on the placement, I would never have known about the vacancy and wouldn’t have had the opportunity to show the management team what I was capable of. The placement proved invaluable to me.”

Adam Theaker, 24, from Redcar, has worked for TVL since 2005 after first working at Eston Leisure Centre on placement from Redcar and Cleveland College.

He said: “When I first started my course, I didn’t really know where my career was going.

“However, after a while, my confidence grew and my life was transformed. I grew as a person and became ambitious and now hope to manage a TVL centre at some point in the future.”

“I am proof that young people should take advantage of these opportunities.”