How an ankle injury led to my job with the Scottish FA

It's just always been something I've been interested in. I can't really imagine my life without sport, so being able to work and continueto take part in it is just, it's brilliant.

So my name is Lauren McCulloch and I am a competitions and football services officer at the Scottish Football Association.

What does your job involve?

It mainly involves administering the Women's Scottish Cup. So organising team applications, draws and just being a main point of contact for clubs. Similarly, I support the women's clubs who have qualified for European competitions from the Scottish FA, so I'm the bridge between themselves and UEFA.

Have you always had a passion for football?

I've played football pretty much my whole life and I continue to do so now as well, so that's pretty good, getting to work in footballand also still play. The interest and ambition to work in sport, I've always had since I was a young girl.

What career path did you take after leaving school?

From school I went to the University of Edinburgh and did a four year undergraduate course in PE teaching. After graduating I started my probation year in a secondary school, but unfortunately playing football I broke my ankle, so that kind of put a halt to that. What it did allow me to do was explore different avenues within sports and different careers, so I volunteered with Dumbarton Football Club and found a real passion for sports journalism, I kind of took it on myself and applied for masters within sports journalism and I was accepted into the one at Edinburgh Napier University, which I did for the year. Through that I thoroughly enjoyed it, it allowed me to develop skills in written journalism, TV journalism, radio journalism, so it was it was a really good experience for me, getting to work at different sporting events as well.

How did sports journalism help you get your current job?

I struggled to find a full time job within sports journalism just because it’s quite niche, so I saw a job as a referee appointmentsofficer within the Scottish FA, which was only a three months temporary contract, but it allowed me to get my foot in the door here.I also gained real experience working with the media team. I was allowed to go and explore when Scotland were qualifying for the World Cup, what goes into preparing them for their qualifying campaign. When my three months was complete, thanks to the Scottish FA media team I managed to do a week work experience with The Herald, which was really exciting for me, I got to cover matches in the Scottish Cup and I got my first byline in the newspaper, so that was a real proud moment for me as well. And then from there I sawan opportunity to apply for the job as a competition and football services officer. Luckily enough I was successful in my application.I feel privileged to work in football in any capacity so that's how I got to where I am now.

How important is volunteering and work experience in football?

Volunteering is massive. Volunteering in itself can be really rewarding because you're doing it because you want to be there. All the volunteering that I did, I didn't regret it at all, if anything it kind of bulked up my CV a lot, giving me a vast range of experiences in different scenarios, so I would really recommend volunteering for anybody that wants to do any job. In football is great you can reach out to clubs yourselves, and just kind of ask the question, are there any volunteering possibilities or work experience possibilitieswithin your football club? And that can be from your local junior team around the corner, to teams in the Premier League, they'll need all the help and support that they can get, and if you can offer anything different to what they already provide, they'll jump at the chance.

What is your career highlight so far?

A big one for me was, I was only in the job a couple of months, but I got to work at both the men's and the women's Scottish Cup final. Just to see what goes into the game from start to finish behind the scenes and play a part in the medal presentation as well,it was just an amazing experience to see the pre and post match so close up, and it just gave me a completely different perspective of how things come together.

Do you have any top tips for getting a career in football?

The big one I would say is ask questions, always ask questions, don't be afraid to ask questions because someone else might need to know the answer to that as well, but it's always best that you check and get things right. Number two would be, be positive and collaborate with colleagues, bringing that kind of positive drive to your work, it lifts everyone else as well. Another bit of advice I would say is, always say yes, because you never know what opportunities can come of it. You’ll always have that ‘what if’ if you don't, so jump into opportunities that you're given because you don't always get given them twice.