Category: News

“I didn’t really care too much for school because I was always like: ‘I’m gonna be a footballer”

An articulate piece from Elias Burke for the Athletic UK. Here Elias portrays potential difficulties faced by released academy footballers. With input from a former player, Liverpool FC’s head of player care, and ourselves. Here’s a snippet, with a link to the full story below.

Each year, hundreds of young football players are offered a full-time scholarship by a professional club; 85% of these will not receive a professional contract. By the age of 21, many of these players are without a club at any level.

For these young players, it is very likely that football will have been their life for as long as they could remember. Many highly touted prospects are attached to a professional club before they hit double figures, and the status that comes with being an academy player will form an essential part of their identity. Leaving a situation that you have been in for over a decade is hard enough in any circumstance, but when you have given your whole childhood to your dream – for it to end often without notice – the next steps for a young person can be daunting.

Louis Langdown, alongside his business partner Adam Wilde, both 42, founded the Football Family in 2017 with the help of Southampton FC players Jack Stephens and Sam McQueen. The mission of the non-profit organisation is to provide pathways to ensure young, recently released players – who have spent their childhood involved with professional academies – land on their feet after receiving the life-altering news.

Langdown – who is also assistant manager at Weymouth FC in the National League – highlights the worrying signs from scholars at professional clubs that raised his initial concerns.“We had a couple of players who were in their second year of YTS (Youth Training Scheme now better known as a scholarship). We were getting players on loan from pro clubs, Bournemouth, Southampton, Aldershot. We noticed they were energetic and charismatic. Then it would flip, their mood would become less confident, less talkative, less committed perhaps? Their performances would dip on the pitch. That all came around decision time.Louis LangdownLouis Langdown during his time as fitness coach at Crystal Palace (Photo by Olly Greenwood – PA Images/PA Images via Getty Images)

“You’ve got a bit of hope as an 18-year-old. When you go out on loan to non-league teams, there’s hope there that you’re going to get taken on – there’s a need for you to kick on. People are taking notice of your performances, there’s feedback all the time.

“When the decision comes around in March, April time and it’s firmed up that you’re possibly not going to be (continuing the scholarship at a professional club), things change, and then it’s a case of ‘how do we manage this’.”

One of the biggest issues for young players after being associated with academy football for much of their adolescence is the loss of identity. When the existence of a young person has often been predicated on how well they play football, being told they are no longer good enough in the eyes of the coaches who have helped develop a young player into an adult can be utterly devastating.

“They are a little bit lost and devoid of direction,” Langdown comments. “When you consider everything has been done for them up until the age of 18 – they know their itinerary for the day from the moment they wake up – when that’s removed, it becomes very difficult.

“They are in their own headspace and they lose that direction. For me, it’s about finding direction. What can we get that takes some time and challenge them? That’s really the key problem.

“Another thing they say all the time is that they are no longer ‘the footballer’, they no longer belong to something. It’s about finding where they do belong and giving them something different to connect to.”

Please follow the link for the rest of the story….

https://theathletic.com/2683709/2021/07/07/i-didnt-really-care-too-much-for-school-because-i-was-always-like-im-gonna-be-a-footballer/?source=twitterbdnike

Former Newcastle United and England age-group player Adam Campbell, now partner support manager with Life After Professional Sport (LAPS) offers his personal insights.

Adam Campbell, Newcastle

And just as important, you can read how Liverpool FC are tackling after care through Phil Roscoe (Head of Player Care).

Phil Roscoe, head of player care at Liverpool, set up the club’s alumni project (Photo by Nick Taylor/Liverpool FC/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)

Deselection research in partnership with Solent University

Please view our research presentation slides in partnership with Southampton Solent University delivered at the BASES (British Association of Sport & Exercise Sciences) 2021 student conference.

Some excellent findings that football clubs and researchers might find useful from an extensive qualitative investigation of players experiences of deselection at Scholarship stage.

A video recording and the study abstract is to be published by BASES in the near future.

Please share with anyone who may wish to develop this research. Contact louis.langdown@solent.ac.uk for any further questions. Thank You.

So, Hugo what’s Player Care?

There is a new ‘player’ in the support and development of the modern footballer, welcome to the team ‘Player Care’. Among the now ingrained and accepted players like technical coaches, sport scientists, analysts, nutritionists, conditioning coaches, physiotherapists, and educational & welfare officers, we find player care staff building its reputation, and their relevance

I interviewed Hugo Scheckter, former Head of Player Care at West Ham United and founder of the first independent company devoted to playercare education and posed three generic questions;

  1. WHAT IS PLAYER CARE?
  2. WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE IN PRACTICE?
  3. WHAT MIGHT THE FUTRUE LOOK LIKE? 

HS- “For me, player care is prevention, it is a blanket of human interaction and ideas to stem the negative affects of a ‘result’ driven business”. 

This is probably the best description I’ve come across. I’m often asked what player care is and what it involves. I have done it a disservice in truth, but I’ve maintained its purpose is to reduce the stressors of normal life and promote mental wellbeing. In any year, one in four people across the UK will be affected by mental illness. Common mental disorders being depression and anxiety which can have a debilitating impact on the sufferer. Player-specific factors may precipitate or exacerbate anxiety disorders, including pressures to perform and public scrutiny, career uncertainty or dissatisfaction, and injury. 

The human interaction Hugo refers to is the gateway to identifying potential stressors and reducing their significance. This is something that in a high-performance environment that can often go unnoticed. On any given day at the club, its staff, and the playing squad follow a detailed itinerary of start and finish times. Frankly, ‘organised chaos’ would better suit as a description of most training grounds. As a coach you can become consumed by the clock, and your session detail for a group of up to 25 players and miss the subtle signs an individual player may exhibit when in trouble.

It takes a trained eye and an understanding of your players character and ‘normal’ disposition to pick up on behavioural changes. Can you read their body language? Do you know your athlete well enough? 

HS- “We had a player whose mother moved with him and she didn’t speak English. He would be constantly coming in frustrated to training. Observing a change in mood prompted a discussion. We found out he was having to drive her around, translate for her and when he arrived home after a game or training, she would ask him to do things with her that she was unable to do alone. This had gone on for about a month, so we found a local taxi driver from the same area of their home country who could drive her around and translate and help her out. We put him on a monthly contract and the player was suddenly happier and his performances on the pitch improved too”. 

For me, it’s not the scale of the problem that matters, but the ability to recognise there may be an issue, present a resolution and map the outcome. A mother gained her independence and support in a new country and culture, and the players mental wellbeing improved. Great result. Mental wellbeing can be defined as when an individual realises his or her own potential, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully and is able to contribute to his or her community. I think that happened here. 

HS- “I’d like to see some regulation or code of conduct in place to try and make sure the provisions given to all players are as equal as possible”. 

This now makes sense. Hugo has left his role at WHUFC to head up a consultancy-based company on Player Care, player well-being and team operations. As far as I’m aware, this is the first of its kind, and as such The Player Care Group represents innovation. The step away from club attachment might be to realise the very vision of equality among footballers in the level of service and approach each club provide in their player care strategy. When you’re employed by a club your priority is of course to that group of players and staff, the very essence of competition does not lend itself well to cooperation.  As an independent he can offer examples of good practice and effective procedure to promote fairness, equality, and ‘prevention’. 

Voices of the games greats https://www.playercaregroup.co.uk/

HS- “I think clubs are coming around to player care being a differential maker, where the difference in the happiness and player retention from clubs with good player care to those without is clearly shown. It’s a cheap way of clubs making a difference as the clubs don’t pay for the expenses – the only real cost is the employment costs of the people involved”. 

What we do know anecdotally and through the voices of players is this; when they are HAPPY, they play their BEST football. Evidence enough?!

Football is a results’ driven business with a vast array of metrics used to benchmark performance. Subsequently, we know what is below and above benchmark for technical, tactical, and physical behaviours. Thus, the impact of technical coaches can be found in deviations in passing stats and attacking actions. Conditioning coaches can point to an increased number of match day sprints, an impressive standing jump height or a reduced body fat percentage as a means of validating their input and knowledge. When a penalty kick is saved Analysts will replay their video collections on penalty takers and with justification celebrate in the success of the goalkeepers save.  

Player care is the new kid on the block. It needs time to develop, to find its feet and establish empirical evidence as to its impact on player performance. But it will! Today’s Footballers are a constant ‘live’ experiment. Advances in technology and specialist staff can gather the most detailed activity profile of the player and translate their state of readiness both physically and mentally. In a sport awash with finances at the top end, and staff determined to present meaningful recommendations in the support of player development and the football environment, our ability to link player care provision to increased performance levels will arrive. Look out for, and look after the human.

Article written by Louis Langdown please follow or get in touch by @loulangdown @thefootballfam2 info@thefootballfamily.co.uk

Check out Hugo’s website https://www.playercaregroup.co.uk/

Keywords; Player Care, Mental Health, Wellbeing, Football, Performance

We win our first Award

Pictured with our award and The Mayor of Southampton.

At the start of the year we had the extreme pleasure of attending community radio station Unity 101’s celebratory awards evening hosted at The Grand Harbour Hotel. We took our place among more than 300 guests including volunteers from the station, as well as partners from the private, public and voluntary sectors, and thoroughly enjoyed the nights festivities.

The evening saw a wide variety of awards given out, celebrating the work of the volunteers and partners at the station which was marking its 13th birthday. We humbly accepted Solent Universities Organisation Award for ‘Exceptional Achievements’ and toasted the marvellous work of all the winners. The night really did showcase the magnificent work of the cities residents in helping its peopleand their community to thrive.

Read the full story here https://www.solent.ac.uk/news/school-of-sport-health-and-social-sciences/2019/solent-lecturer-receives-award-for-his-community-football-project

The Football Family pictured with Solent University Colleagues at The Grand Harbour Hotel