Kevin’s got the golden touch

Amy Clinton and Kevin Sinfield.

RUGBY League star Kevin Sinfield has already received the MBE and the prestigious Golden Boot award for the world’s best player.

But now the former Oldham Sixth Form College student has also added an Association of Colleges Gold Award to his trophy cabinet. The awards celebrate the success of former students and the role colleges play in helping them build their careers.

It’s the second year in a row that a former Oldham Sixth Form College student has received one of the accolades — with Munira Mirza, London deputy mayor for culture and education, honoured in 2014.

The Leeds Rhinos captain was unable to attend the ceremony at the House of Commons as he was preparing for a game.

He signed for Leeds at the same time he joined Oldham College, and went on to captain England and become only the fourth Englishman to win the Golden Boot award.

“My time at Oldham Sixth Form College was fantastic; I’ve got some great memories,” said Kevin, who is switching to rugby union next season.

“The two years I spent there were probably the toughest of my career to date. Trying to combine four A-levels with full-time professional rugby was very difficult, but the support I got from the college inspired me. It’s a great college; I still have a lot of friends there who were teachers back then.”

AS well as Kevin, the college nominated Amy Clinton as a current student showing promise in a similar field.

The 17 year old, who plays netball for Oldham and Manchester Thunder, has five England under-19 caps.

She is studying PE, maths and biology and received a Future Star award and £1,000.

Amy hopes to study science or maths at university: “Kevin is such an inspirational role model, and I would love to follow in his footsteps in the netball world,” she said.

Watch Kevin’s acceptance speech on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcRzBmiOap4&feature=youtu.be


twitter: @knowledgeoldham