Shaun Weatherhead is a personal motivational coach based in New Mill, Holmfirth, West Yorkshire.
Founder of U Can Shine in 2006 Shaun is a living example of U Can Shine's principles.
As a young boy growing up, like many, his passion was football and after progressing through school with average grades, went on to become a professional football player with Huddersfield Town.
6 years later and at 23 a back injury sidelined him for good. Regaining his confidence he gained qualifications as a personal fitness coach, later developing motivational tools from personal experiences and life coaching - helping business people achieve their goals.
The birth of his 2 children Leah aged 8 and Rylee age 5 (described by Shaun as his life defining moment) - fired his passion and ambition to develop U can Shine enabling children to improve their confidence, boost their self belief and gain greater focus to be the best that they can be achieving greater personal happiness at school and in life.
Shaun's life history
From the age of 12 I was an associate school boy for Huddersfield Town AFC. My dream to become a professional footballer came true when I became an apprentice at Huddersfield and I spent two years learning how to perform both on and off the pitch. <view image> 
One year later, I signed as a full professional, unfortunately spending most of that year trying to combat injuries I was released at the end of the season. This was a very difficult period; as a life long Huddersfield Town supporter, it seemed that my goals were disappearing and events were beyond my control.
With the help and support of friends and family, I became more positive about my future and concentrated on regaining my fitness. I then joined York City for one season where I made my full football league debut. Unfortunately, injuries again hindered my progress and I left at the end of the season to focus on getting fully fit.
New opportunities...
In the summer of 1990; out of the blue, I got the opportunity to play in Hong Kong. I couldn't believe it! The chance to play overseas, see new places and get paid for doing something I loved, and only 20 years old. During this period I travelled and played in China and Vietnam as well. <view image> 
Hong Kong inspired me to seek new and exciting opportunities, and soon I was playing football in South Africa. This was a completely different experience - many different cultures and some of the most naturally talented players I had played with and due to the huge changes occurring in South Africa it seemed as though I was experiencing history in the making. Memorably, I played in front of 85,000 at FNB Stadium.
Once again, injuries reoccurred, so I returned to the UK in 1993 to recouperate and regain fitness. In many ways this was like starting again - no one had seen me play and I needed to prove my abilities once more. After a brief pre-season with Halifax Town I joined Acrrington Stanley.
… Accrington Stanley, who are they?
My injuries persisted, and after three months I finished my playing career. This was completely devastating and forced me to look seriously at my life and identity (until now being a football player was a very big part of who I was). I became an insurance agent and started to learn new skills.
The next step...
I had left school with very few qualifications and now needed to focus on something that interested me so I decided to once again re-enter education and retrain for another career. Initially, I trained as a sports therapist/masseur and later became interested in training as a fitness instructor.
After an initial spell of working in a small gym, I joined Fitness First Health Clubs in 1997, where I became a personal trainer running my own business, which involved working with many different people helping them to achieve better health, fitness and weight loss.
My experiences as a personal trainer enabled me to realise that, with the right support guidance and motivation, we can all achieve our life goals. I realised that all my clients needed to train their minds and develop the correct positive outlook just as much as they needed to jump on the treadmill.
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After six successful years as a personal trainer I qualified as a life coach with The Coaching Academy. Coaching, after all, had become an integral part of my work. The birth of my daughter Leah-mae was another life changing event. It was the most rewarding and challenging thing that had happened to me, everything that had happened up to this point - my successes and disappointments - would help me to become a better parent.
As a father it became increasingly important to me to establish a better life balance enabling me to focus on the most important things in life. Becoming a parent for the second time; with the birth of my son Rylee, energised me to seek new challenges and make the most of my skills and experiences. For me it seemed inevitable that I should work with children and help them to develop a positive outlook and achieve better well-being.
This has resulted in the U Can Shine programme. Working and listening to children has enabled me to understand that all children are capable of realising their true potential. By empowering children to take control of their futures they become equipped with the skills to challenge life issues and begin making a positive contribution.
As U Can Shine has developed I have become thoroughly inspired by children and am always pleasantly surprised by their capabilities. You can find more details about the our programme elsewhere on this website, but I would just like to say that U Can Shine is about helping children to enjoy their lives and help them make the most of a wonderful journey of self-discovery and opportunity.
