KYLE TAKING UP PHYSIO POST WITH NEWCASTLE FALCONS

A YOUNG Castlederg man has been appointed physio at one of the leading Aviva Premiership clubs in England. Kyle Mortland will join the physio team at Newcastle Falcons, managed by former England player Dean Richards, next week.

The Derg lad who has just completed a Masters in Sports Exercise Medicine at University of Ulster, Jordanstown, travels to Newcastle today (Sunday) to begin work on Monday morning with the Junior Academy at the Kingston Park club.

Mortland, 22, is looking forward to getting his foot on the ladder with a professional sports set-up.

“It all happened so quickly to tell you the truth,” he said. “I filled in the application not thinking much of it. They offered me an interview within a week and eight days later they offered me the job. “It’s a big opportunity, I always said I wanted to work in full-time sport.

“It was too good to turn down for sure. It’s the next step for me. “I hadn’t worked full-time yet because I was doing my Masters but I had been working part-time in elite youth sport. “So the next logicial step would be working at academy level full-time.

“It’s probably the perfect step for me. I start at junior academy level but the club is structured in such a way that I can go from 13s to 18s to development and so on. “Essentially I become a member of the physio team and whereever I am needed that’s where I’ll be, be it first team, 18s or whatever.

“Through my involvement with the Northern Ireland U18 set up I have got a little insight into the fact that professional sport operates on a different planet.

“In some aspects these people are not living in the real world in how they are treated. I’ll be joining the club at a pretty standard level but I suppose it’s where it can take me that matters.”

In truth the young Derg man has built up an impressive CV in recent years. As well as being involved with the Northern Ireland U18 soccer squad, he has been physio with Club NI, the Tyrone SuperCupNI, Dergview, Harry McConkey’s Regions’ Cup squad as well as working for a spell with Omagh Accies Rugby Club.

As part of his Masters degree Kyle did research into injury patterns in schoolboy rugby players, which proved hugely beneficial when it came to his interview.

“The Omagh Accies link was good on this particular occasion but in the last couple of months I have been doing a lot of reading and research on injuries to academy players, that sort of thing. “Although I didn’t know it at the time it was perfect preparation for my interview.”

Kyle is a former pupil of Omagh Academy.