It might be in overcoming chronic homesickness when leaving a close family in Ireland as a 16-year-old to pursue dreams of becoming a professional footballer in England.
For former Wolves Academy graduate Sammy Clingan, carrying out that very job with the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service has given him a new lease of life – and renewed sense of purpose – since hanging up his boots. “I was never the best at exams when I was in education, I didn’t really know how to study, and yet it is something I have had to do loads of for my fire exams.
He had rounded off his full-time footballing career in Scotland with Kilmarnock, but a knee injury which required an operation thus ruling him out of going to the 2016 European Championships with Northern Ireland also led to a surgeon’s advice that he should no longer train every day. “Football had been my life, but while I had done my coaching badges, it wasn’t something I had any great urge to go into.