Mused Salem left his colleagues at the Rotherham United Community Sports Trust for one day to try his hand at helping to run the busy Parkgate Shopping Park.
Mused Salem left his colleagues at the Rotherham United Community Sports Trust for one day to try his hand at helping to run the busy Parkgate Shopping Park. His feet hardly touched the ground during what he described as one of the most fascinating days of his young life.18 year-old Mused was at the shopping park in his capacity as the 2012/13 Parkgate Apprentice. The scheme, now in its second year and sponsored by Parkgate’s owners, British Land, allows young people to develop sports related coaching skills as well as build up their confidence through training that focuses on teamwork and communications.
Mused’s day at Parkgate had been arranged by the shopping park’s Operations Manager, Billy Smith, to help him understand some of the challenges that face retail management, and to provide some practical experience of spotting and overcoming challenges.
“I had no idea that there were so many aspects to running a Shopping Park,” said Mused. “What you see on the surface is only a fraction of the planning and organisation that is required, and I am very grateful to Billy and his colleagues for making this such a useful and special day.”
“Mused is a fine young man and a real credit to the ‘Young Apprentice’ programme,” remarked Billy Smith.
“It was a pleasure to spend the day with him, and I can now appreciate why he is so highly valued by the Community Sports Trust,” he added.
Head of Community at the RUCST Jamie Noble said: “I’m really proud to see how far Mused has come since he started here at the Trust. It has been pleasure to oversee how he has developed into a fantastic apprentice and unbelievable person.
“It’s also a massive credit to British Land and Parkgate for sponsoring our apprentice project. Our relationship with them is absolutely essential to the upbringing of not just Mused, but all of our promising apprentices.
“It was a great opportunity for Mused to gain some valuable skills down at Parkgate. But we don’t want to stop there. We want to provide all of our apprentices the chance to gain as many skills as possible, which will help them as they pursue their chosen careers and beyond.”