AN APPRENTICE sports coach has been helping clubs in the community boost their numbers thanks to a Welsh Government’s shared apprenticeship scheme.

As the annual National Apprenticeship Week gets underway, Economy Minister Vaughan Gething is encouraging more firms to consider taking on an apprentice.

Taking place between February 6 and 12, National Apprenticeship Week is an annual week-long celebration of apprenticeships and the value they bring to employers and learners across Wales.

Apprenticeships are a vital part of the Welsh Government’s Young Person’s Guarantee, which provides under 25's in Wales with the offer of support to gain a place in education or training, find a job or become self-employed.

READ MORE: Wrexham man turns his life around from homelessness to successful business owner

For the 2022/23 contract year Welsh Government has committed £148.6m to apprenticeship delivery, with the goal of reaching 125,000 all-age apprenticeships in 2026/27.

The Welsh Government, in partnership with Grwp Llandrillo Menai, Achieve More Training, Ap-prentis, is providing support for community sport clubs in north Wales to recruit and train a local young person in the role of a community sport coach.

The rollout of the new shared apprenticeship model includes a scheme in Community Sports that plans to get more children and young people participating in sport through their local sports clubs.

Following its re-opening at the end of 2022, the Deeside Dragons Ice Hockey Club and Aura Wales has provided a shared apprenticeship opportunity for a young man with additional learning needs, who is helping to increase local participation in ice hockey and ice skating.

Michael Speare is very passionate about playing ice hockey and is visiting schools in the area as an ambassador for the sport.

Mr Gething, said: "It’s been a real pleasure to meet Michael and to learn more about his work at Deeside Dragons Ice Hockey Club. He is the perfect ambassador for the sport.

"I'm delighted our shared apprenticeship scheme is providing new opportunities for young people who cannot find permanent employment to learn new skills in the workplace, helping them gain new qualifications that will enable them to secure and sustain full-time permanent jobs.

"At the beginning of Apprenticeship Week, I want to encourage people and employers across Wales to see how apprenticeships can make a real contribution to their futures."

Mike Welch, chief executive of Aura Wales, said: "Michael’s role as a club apprentice, working under the mentorship of James Parsons, Aura’s Junior Ice Hockey head coach, has enabled us to both re-engage with young people and to attract new players to the club.

"This has been achieved across a variety of different settings such as school taster sessions, off-ice coaching and Aura’s Learn To Skate programme.

"What was a pretty bleak future for the Junior Ice Hockey Club due to the pandemic is now looking really positive. We can see growth and progression to the club and Michael is playing a really important role in supporting this. The level of growth we have experienced would not have been possible without the apprenticeship scheme and Achieve More Training."