Dan Matson
Age: 23
Lives: Boston
How long in Local Government? 1 year
What subjects did you take at school/college/university?
Physical Education, Drama, Music, Maths, Science, Technology, Geography, French, Religious Education. Psychology, General Studies, Business studies, Sport development and exercise.
Tell us a little bit about your job and what it involves
My primary focus is to increase participation in sport and recreational activity by all sections of the community. I develop schemes and initiatives to engage people of all ages in to regular exercise. I work in partnership with many organisations to help achieve the above; for example, Lincs Sport Partnership, school sports partnership, lincs primary care trust, youth service, to name just a few.
What do you like about working in Local Government/what are the benefits?
This is my first post in Local Government, and I must say I have been hugely impressed with the organisation. South Holland District Council offers many incentives which really keep aspirations and motivation high. They offer great training opportunities, a flexible working scheme, five weeks holiday, and are very supportive in future development and progress within the organisation and much more. The other benefit is job satisfaction for me; because South Holland is a relatively small District you are able to forge close working relationships with clubs, societies and other organisations in the District, and also members of the public; it's seeing people take up schemes that engage them in to sport that really is fulfilling.
Although I have only been here a relatively short time I feel I have been here for many years. The department I work in consists of ten other officers and from the very first day I was welcomed with open arms. Although the organisation employs a large number of people who would never cross your path in a working sense, when you're up and about in the building everyone is very friendly and takes interest in what you're doing.
What attracted you to working at a local authority?
I have been developing and coaching sport from a young age. Apart from making it as a Professional footballer there was no other career I wanted to work in, and when that dream ended the only job I wanted to do was Sport Development.
Creating opportunities for people to take part in sport or recreational activities is very rewarding, having been born and breed in South Holland it was a dream to become the sport development officer for the area I know so much about. I was now in a position to put things in place that I thought were missing when I was a young boy. It was a huge bonus that the post was within a local authority so the added benefit of having the luxuries like a flexible working scheme, five weeks holiday, further training opportunities, an extremely good pension scheme was a real bonus, and these bonuses added with job satisfaction is why they say working in local authority is a job for life.
What are your career aspirations?
I want to continue my good work in raising the profile of sport in South Holland. There are always new challenges to face, but I will continue developing successful sustainable projects and schemes that will be embedded in to the sport development business plan for the next sport officer.
I'm very ambitious and would like to continue progressing within the organisation. I'm currently working towards a HPD in sport and recreation management that should give me the knowledge to carry on progressing to the very top. My ultimate career aspiration is to be a chief executive of a local authority or major sporting organisation. | 
