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“FOOTBALL IS A GAME OF MISTAKES.<br />
Whoever Makes the fewest mistakes<br />
wins”.
Who we<br />
are<br />
The Premier Sports Network is a series of invite-only player care events for<br />
support staff from clubs and federations. Each event gives attendees the<br />
chance to network and discuss challenges in the sector.<br />
At the Premier Sports Network: Player Care events, professionals from the UK<br />
player support network including academy directors, player liaison officers,<br />
lawyers, financial advisors, agents and education officers will discuss and<br />
debate the challenges that face players, and their advisors, in a career journey<br />
starting at youth-level and spanning to retirement.<br />
“The Academy Transition Programme has been created following feedback from those who<br />
have attended our Player Care seminars who outlined the real need to educate and<br />
support the Premier League players of the future. With increasing demands to protect their<br />
most valuable investments - players - we believe the Academy Transition Programme will<br />
become a must-attend annual event for every Premier League club’s upcoming talent.”<br />
- David Bull, Co-Founder
NAVAGATING<br />
WHAT LIES<br />
AHEAD...<br />
Academy players are tasked with adjusting not only to the speed and<br />
physicality of the professional game but also to life off the pitch.<br />
Newcomers to the Premier League will face challenges in their personal lives<br />
that range from managing finances, media communication and personal<br />
conduct in the public eye. With some academy players entering the league at<br />
19, handling the spotlight and newfound fortune can be a lot to tackle.<br />
That’s where the Premier Sports Academy Transition Programme steps in.<br />
The programme is a league-wide initiative for academy players entering the<br />
Premier League that helps provide young players with information and<br />
resources that enable them to proactively make quality decisions and<br />
successfully adapt to the lifestyle and challenges of the Premier League.
THE<br />
united<br />
states<br />
As part of Premier Sports due diligence in building the course<br />
we have spent time in the USA observing and considering<br />
how the major professional sports associations and clubs<br />
provide apprentice and player care and how they build their<br />
transition programmes, this has included discussions with<br />
the NFL, NBA, MLS and some major teams on how they<br />
manage the evolution from apprentice to professional.
HOW IT<br />
WORKS<br />
The programme is an off-season one-day event which will feature<br />
interactive workshops and counsel sessions on challenges they will face in<br />
the Premier League, plus guest appearances from current and former<br />
Premier League players.<br />
There is special focus on character, ethics, the importance of positive<br />
images as well as personal and social responsibility.<br />
The sessions will run from 09.00-18.00 and will be conducted by the<br />
Premier Sports Network, the Premier League, PFA, current and former<br />
players and industry experts in each of the fields covered.
THE GOAL<br />
Ensure all Premier League academy players understand the<br />
challenges and pressures they are about to encounter and<br />
how to deal with them. That they’re fully aware of all the<br />
support mechanisms and programmes in place available to<br />
them whenever they need.<br />
All individuals completing the course will receive an Academy<br />
Transition Programme personal development certificate<br />
accredited by the Premier League and the PFA.
MENTAL<br />
HEALTH<br />
& WELLBEING<br />
Every year, one-in-four people experiences a mental health problem.<br />
Don’t think that the glamour and riches experienced by those who play<br />
professional sport means they’re any different: on the contrary, more<br />
and more high-profile athletes are speaking out about their own battles<br />
with mental health, the stigma attached to admitting their struggles and<br />
the resulting lack of support they have received.<br />
We explore how athlete support staff and organisations currently<br />
respond to, manage and prevent mental illness, and to identify<br />
successful programmes and approaches that can be shared between<br />
sports.<br />
Partners:
OF PREMIER LEAGUE FOOTBALLERS<br />
FILE BANKRUPTCY WITHIN FIVE<br />
YEARS OF RETIREMENT.
FINANCIAL<br />
MANAGEMENT<br />
Professional sportspeople are more financially savvy than they’ve ever<br />
been. Today, top athletes - even in their teens - are putting money aside<br />
into a nest egg, or into investments they feel passionate about that they<br />
can then fall back on a decade later when injuries or age ends the career<br />
they are primarily known for. So too are they thinking harder about how<br />
they can financially protect themselves and their families, both during<br />
and after their career.<br />
We discuss how players view their financial matters, and what support<br />
needs to be offered to professional sportspeople during their career –<br />
financial, educational and vocational – so that they’re protected during<br />
their sporting career and beyond.<br />
Partners:
Alcohol &<br />
Gambling<br />
abuse<br />
Vices common to adult men of all ages – alcoholism, drug addiction and<br />
gambling – are also common in football circles, with players attracted to<br />
the less virtuous ways of spending their leisure time outside of<br />
matchdays and training. It’s why charities such as Sporting Chance,<br />
founded by former Arsenal and England captain Tony Adams following<br />
his own well-documented battles, work hard to educate and rehabilitate<br />
footballers across the UK.<br />
The Academy Transition Programme will explore, in depth, the dangers<br />
presented to footballers in this area, what the consequences are for both<br />
player and club, how support staff can guide players away from<br />
temptation and what the best procedures are to help footballers in<br />
recovery or identified as in danger of addiction.<br />
Partners:
Personal<br />
conduct<br />
Fame, adulation and large amounts of money can be a dangerous combination<br />
when young, impressionable footballers are forming personal relationships. Given<br />
they are hero-worshiped, in the public eye and contactable like never before<br />
through social media, the number of temptations, many of which are inappropriate,<br />
are numerous. Sexual scandal also continues to sell papers, so just one step out of<br />
line could see a player on the front page of a newspaper rather than the back page.<br />
The sensitive topic of personal conduct – which has received greater attention<br />
following the high-profile jailing of Adam Johnson earlier this year - will be covered<br />
in the Academy Transition Programme by giving those working in player care an<br />
understanding of how players can avoid getting into improper personal<br />
relationships, and what the implications can be for both player and club should<br />
footballers behave illegally and inappropriately.<br />
Partners:
Safety &<br />
security<br />
Protecting footballers from the everyday dangers of life is at the very<br />
heart of player care – and the high-profile nature of the sport means that<br />
those dangers are bigger and more numerous than those faced by the<br />
average person on the street. A fully protected home, security when<br />
travelling abroad, safety on the road...often the most basic problemsolving<br />
by support staff can have the biggest positive impact on a<br />
footballer’s mental and physical health.<br />
This area will be covered in the Academy Transition Programme by<br />
security experts who’ll identify the various ways footballers can come into<br />
potential danger, what processes and procedures need to be put in place<br />
to overcome them, and which external companies offer the best specialist<br />
safety services.<br />
Partners:
Schedule<br />
of the day<br />
AM<br />
09.00 PREMIER LEAGUE/PFA COMMUNICATIONS<br />
09.20 VIEW FROM A FORMER PROFESSIONAL<br />
09.45 PROFESSIONAL LIFE SKILLS:<br />
• FINANCE<br />
• RETIREMENT<br />
• INSURANCE<br />
• TAX<br />
• PROFESSIONALISM<br />
10.45 BREAK<br />
11.15 LEGAL EDUCATION:<br />
• FELONY SITUATIONS<br />
• GAMBLING<br />
• SEXUAL HARRASMENT<br />
• SECURITY<br />
13.00 LUNCH<br />
PM<br />
14.00 PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT & EDUCATION:<br />
• IMAGE & ETHICS<br />
• RELOCATION & CULTURAL ADAPTION<br />
• DRIVING SAFETY<br />
• TRAVELLING ABROAD<br />
• DRUGS & ALCOHOL<br />
• FAMILY & RELATIONSHIPS<br />
• RACISM & HOMOPHOBIA<br />
15.30 BREAK<br />
15.45 MENTAL HEALTH & WELL-BEING<br />
• ANXIETY & DEPRESSION<br />
• ANGER MANAGEMENT<br />
16.15 MEDIA & COMMUNITY RELATIONS<br />
• COMMUNITY RELATIONS<br />
• MEDIA TRAINING<br />
• SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGEMENT<br />
• CHARITABLE ENDEAVORS<br />
17..30 – 17.45 CLOSING REMARKS
For<br />
more<br />
Info...<br />
David Bull<br />
Co-Founder<br />
Premier Sports Network<br />
david@premiersports.agency<br />
+44 (0) 208 419 1100<br />
+44 (0) 778 2366 16<br />
www.premiersportsnetwork.com