The Player Care Group

The next generation of Player Care is here. PlayerCarePro. Available now. #playercare https://lnkd.in/e4jXAHvn

Looking to learn something new in the New Year? Our Certificate in Player Care is a great opportunity to learn from some experienced Player Care staff and is perfect for whether you're currently in a club or looking to join one! Our live format and limited class sizes leads to in depth discussions, tailed content and real debates about what good and 'not so good' Player Care can look like. We also have our wonderful alumni group - which is free for life - promising meet ups, job postings and regular guest speakers. We have limited spaces still available for January 2025 - full details and payment plans available online. Any questions please get in touch with us today!

Wonderful to see recent ‘Certificate in Player Care’ alum Virginie Mignon be featured for her work with the players & families at Claes Agency. More and more agencies are hiring player care staff to offer a different type of support than clubs do - when effectively combined it can result in incredible wrap around support for the players & their families.

Our Founder & Managing Director Hugo Scheckter was invited onto the BBC's Radio 5 Live Breakfast show for a chat about player activism, Player Care and the rainbow laces campaign - and how it's important to focus on the positive allies in this. Full interview can be found from 1hr 25 mins in - it's about 8 mins in total. https://lnkd.in/eVHG2hij

💫✨Chasing the Dream💫✨ Reflecting on my journey, being mentioned as someone actively involved in the sport was nice. From being released at sixteen and leaving home at the same age to enduring loan spells, achieving promotions, and eventually facing life out of contract with a family to support, I navigated the transition away from the game without the resources players have access to today. People often ask if I am a coach. The answer is no, but I believe it’s essential to understand the role of Player Care in supporting and mentoring young players, whether they are just starting their journey or have transitioned into a new career beyond football. What truly stands out about Player Care is our unwavering focus on the individual. We strive to support every person in the best way possible, regardless of their circumstances or where they are in their journey. It's crucial to recognise that while everyone travels a unique path, the dream remains the same. 🗣️🗣️🗣️ Shout out to those working in Player Care and trying to make a difference, as we may never see the impact of your support or how we made individuals feel supported, but as they say, people always remember how you made them feel 🗣️🗣️🗣️

It is always my absolute pleasure to engage with our young people, but there’s something extra special to see a range of age groups engaging with eachother. Big thank you to my amazing colleague Ruth Nichols for working with me to create time and space for U12-EDS to ‘drop in’ and catch up with us and their peers. A fabulous and informal yet meaningful evening of small group discussion, 1-1 catch ups and self led activity to inform how we support welfare and wellbeing across the pathway.

Some weeks it feels like player care is so much more than a job, an emotional attachment to a club, a group that have just been thrown together with one common goal, to watch them be friends and rivals, to be confused by decisions but supportive to their team mates at the same time. Everyday I feel like “footballers” are underrated. They have it all in the worlds eye but behind the scenes from 16 years old, they have to show commitment when things are tough, navigate emotional intelligence for themselves, their team mates, their coaches, their families. They turn up day in day out knowing that they have to be in the zone, ready to fight for their place, can’t allow the everyday things to annoy them, the traffic, the fall out with a sibling, cannot have a bad day. And that’s where we step in, to support, let them talk, educate, try to understand, keep them safe, ensure they feel safe. This week they secured the next round of the youth cup, some in the team, some out. One group. So privileged to be allowed on their journey and with the help of the League Football Education we are able to provide amazing workshops to enhance their coping strategies and provide opportunities for the future. Yesterday we welcomed the fabulous Jamie Edwards. A hugely impactful workshop providing the lads with the “tools” they need to be resilient, to be in control and to thrive in a world where confidence can take a knock. Thanks Jamie.

We try to make all our offerings as accessible as possible - which is why we partnered with the Disability Football Collective for support and to give their members funded places on our courses. We were delighted to welcome Blind England Football legend Roy Turnham, to Cohort 17 of the 'Certificate in Player Care' earlier this year. Roy, who's earned over 100 caps for England, had the following to say about his experience. "Over my 13 years competing and coaching within the disability football program, I have developed a real passion and drive for improving the support provided for athletes in this high-performance pathway. When I was approached by the disability football collective with a view to taking the course in professional player care, I was excited to see what disability football could take on board from the professional football environment. It was also an honour to be the 1st para footballer to take the course. On this note, I found the staff at the player care group very approachable, and they made a real effort to ensure that all elements of the course were accessible to me and were always ready to listen to any feedback. After the course, when I reached out to Hugo for some further advice around approaching the FA with my learnings from the course, he was only too happy to give me some of his time.   The course itself was well structured, and I always received the presentation slides in advance so that I could read them with my screen reader, not always possible when screen sharing on zoom. The presenters were all very knowledgeable and engaging, with a variety of different experiences working within the professional game, from foundation level, to senior first team. A real positive, was the amount of real-life experience shared. I came away with some really useful advice around how to better advocate for player care, particularly in an area like disability football where it is possibly not well recognised and understood.    One thing in particular which I took from the professional game, is the idea of having a proper onboarding and exit strategy. This would allow new players to learn exactly what it means to be a high-performance athlete and to help them settle in, whilst supporting players to transition smoothly into a further career post-retirement."   This comes at a time where support for disability football is at its all time high, with The Football Association recently launching their new football strategy. We do our best to be as accommodating for all disabilities - so please get in touch to discuss how we can help you. Our next running of the Certificate in Player Care is in January - with limited places still remaining.

Last Wednesday I attended the NFL Player Engagement webinar. There were over 500+ people there. This was a very insightful look into player engagement. Thank you to the NFL Player Engagment staff: Tracy Perlman Rob Morrissey Keith Elias Carla Lide-Buglione Usama Young Ashley Smith Max Blank The staff spoke about the five pillars of player engagement. The first four are player facing and the team dove deeper into how they help National Football League (NFL) players and legends in the following pillars: Continuing education Financial literacy Professional development Personal development After they spoke about what they do at the league level they then dove into their fifth pillar which is to support those in player engagement at each of the 32 teams. They spoke about how they provide value to those in the role and then had three professionals in player engagement on a panel to discuss their every day roles. Those professional were Kelsey Harkins DeAngelo Shears, MBA Fernando Velasco. They did a great job talking about their roles and providing some advice for those in the role. (Sidenote: they all worked in college athletics during their career journey.) After the panel and Q&A, Keith Elias reminded a lot of attendees that NFL chances are slim and getting a start in college athletics is a great way to impact the lives of athletes now. My overall thoughts: 1. They delivered on what they said they would they gave an introduction to player engagement 2. They dove into player engagement from the league level and the team level 3. They encouraged attendees to connect and network 4. They were realistic in telling people they wouldn't just go from the Zoom to player engagement and there is a lot of opportunity in college athletics To hear a more detailed breakdown of the NFL Player Engagement webinar, check out my podcast in the comments. #PlayerEngagement #PlayerDevelopment

It's been a while since we had a 'Star of the Cohort' Post - but Beth Morrell achieved just that in Cohort 19 in the Autumn. Starting with Cohort 11 of the 'Certificate in Player Care', we have been awarding a "Star of the Cohort" prize to the person with the best final presentation. They will get a special certificate as well as a 1 on 1 hour with a tutor of their choice to discuss anything regarding to Player Care. Beth Morrell was the 8th winner of this award, who was asked to prepare a short presentation on: “Following your recent appointment at an Academy, you have been asked to focus on developing how parent and player voice can be better sought and taken into consideration across the foundation, youth and professional phases. Working from the club values of embracing diversity, inclusion and equity provide a range of strategies with reasoning as to why parent and player perspectives are important to the Academy.” You can see her winning presentation here! https://lnkd.in/e-gAtcp7 Great work Beth! For more information on our industry leading Player Care courses, please visit https://lnkd.in/dKPHEyM8. We have limited places for January 2025.