Kentish Express Ashford & District
Grant helps Janine pursue her passion
Janine Brown has taken an unconventional route into sports coaching but her commitment is paying off after receiving a large cash grant.
Brown, 32, is one of 50 coaches from across the UK to have been awarded a Gillette Great Start Grant in celebration of their tireless efforts helping individuals and clubs in sport.
But it has only been since 2011 that, after stints in both British Transport and Kent Police as well as athletics scholarships in America, Brown has been able to earn a living from her passion.
She is now community and sports development manager at Hayesbrook School in Tonbridge and will use the grant towards gaining a Level 3 athletics qualification.
The course will boost her coaching skills even further, after what Brown admits has been a rapid three years since initially starting out as an intern.
She said: “I’m rpleased. I think I’ve received it because I’ve booked to go on a UK Athletics Level 3 course, all the money has been passed over to that as it can take a lot to get the qualification.
“It’s important because it’s going to help me develop and gain some new skills to pass on to the kids.
“I was in the police force for six years and decided to leave that and move back to America, where I had been on several athletics scholarships – sport has always been part of my life and still is.
“I came back and I always wanted to do sport more but with my police work, I had to make a decision and take a gamble and I got a job as an intern.
“The door opened and I got an interview at Hayesbrook and I’ve learned so much since then.”
In between her school duties, Brown
‘I had to make a decision
and take a gamble’
The 2013 Gillette ‘Great Starts’ campaign celebrates community coaches and inspires the next generation of coaches by providing them with grants to fund their next level qualifications.