Early Life
Born in Thurso, Scotland to Fiona, and Cliff Rennie on 22 May 1975, Martin Rennie spent the first 10 years of his life growing up in Bettyhill where his father was a Church of Scotland minister. In 1985, Rennie's father accepted a call to the Old Parish Church, in Larbert and the family moved there. Rennie was schooled at Ladeside Primary, and Larbert High School, at weekends he would watch Falkirk F.C. play, later becoming a ballboy for the team.
After leaving High School, Rennie went on to study for a business degree at Glasgow Caledonian University and in his final year, received a tryout for the Charlotte Eagles, but his suffered a cruciate ligament injury to his right knee. Returning to Scotland, Rennie continued to play for Scottish Junior Football Association teams Dunipace and Bo'nes whilst working in sales and marketing for Blackbaud. With the money earned from his sales and marketing work, Rennie was able to personally pay for his SFA coaching course costs. Rennie quickly rose through the coaching ranks and attained his UEFA ‘A’ License becoming assistant manager at Rosyth F.C. at 26.
Charlotte Eagles had been owned by Christian charity Mission Athletes International and Rennie continue to support their work by running coaching camps with UK arm Ambassadors in Sport(AIS). In 2003 Rennie was asked by AIS to embark on a playing tour of Africa, visiting, Mozambique, Sudan and South Africa. The tour comprised players from the MAI owned teams Charlotte Eagles, Cascade Surge, and Minnesota Thunder as well as selected European players. After returning, Rennie was offered an opportunity to assist with running coaching camps in Salem, Oregon along with coaching the Cascade Surge. Although initially denied the time off his work at Blackbaud, Rennie was finally approached by the CEO who agreed to allow him 4 months because of Rennie's passion for football.
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