GLASGOW—July 15, 2009

Former Federation of Master Builders’ Scottish Apprentice of the Year Stephen Millar is to fly out to Chinese Taipei (Taiwan) next month to compete in the Deaflympics.

The 22-year-old, a wood machinist at the Royal Strathclyde Blindcraft Industries (RSBi) factory in Springburn, Glasgow, has been selected for the Irish national football side after scoring over 20 goals last season for Glasgow Deaf AFC.

A medal at the Deaflympics - where the midfielder will compete against Great Britain, USA and Japan - would be the latest accolade to add to his growing list of trophies.

As well as last year’s Federation of Master Builders’ Scottish Apprentice of the Year prize, Stephen is a fourth-year winner of the Apse Apprentice Awards, and received a Special Recognition Award by the Scottish Building Apprenticeship and Training Council (SBATC).

Stephen, who is eligible to play for Ireland as his father’s family are from Derry, completed his four-year apprentice with RSBi last year and landed a full-time job.

The backshift work pattern allows him to train in the gym in the mornings before work and The Football Association of Ireland fly him out to Dublin every second week to train and play with the 22-stong squad.

“I’ve made a lot of friends at RSBi - I play football with some of them,” said Stephen.

“I was thinking of going to do more further education, maybe in engineering. I hope to become a gaffer or a supervisor.”

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Please contact Mel Brookes, City Building’s Marketing Manager in the first instance on +44 (0)141 1287 1956, +44 (0)7734 597296 or e-mail melanie.brookes@citybuildingglasgow.co.uk