The Importance of Education
Education, Education, Education
There is a reason why education is at the top end of this website. That's because it is far more important than anything else we might write about.
This may be hugely disappointing news to any child thinking they have just shrugged off the school thing and are now going on to be a professional footballer.
The Facts Are:
- Few academy players will become professional footballers
- Fewer still will be Premiership players earning £ms per year
- Education success is more easily attainable than football success
- Education is less subjective to the personal opinions of people controlling your future.
- Outcomes in education are directly rewarded by the effort you put in
- Measured over a whole career, you may in fact earn more from a well-paid, professional role outside of football when compared with a Championship team player earning £250k for 12 years who spends a high proportion of their salary, fails to invest wisely and never retrains for a career after football
- A partner in an leading investment bank, law, accountancy or IT consulting business has considerably more earning power over a 30 year period.
Academies, Schools and You: Working Together
Academy involvement creates a three way relationship between you, the club and your child’s school.
Academies must ensure your child’s school performance doesn’t suffer because of the time they now spend at the academy.
If your child doesn’t get home until 8-8.30 pm, it doesn’t leave much time for something to eat, shower, get ready for school and complete homework.
You will need to liaise with the school to manage homework submission times. Most will allow some flexibility but the agreement needs to be communicated to all staff that teach your child.
You may need to repeat this every year so new teachers are aware of this agreement between you and the school. It will save you and your child a lot of grief. This is important because the club will have a relationship with the school and they should be seeking to ensure there isn't a drop in your child’s academic performance.
If there is, either the club or the school are within their right to suspend academy training attendance temporarily or permanently.
Private School Opportunities
For many private education is so expensive it’s never a viable option or some parents are fervently opposed to it, sometimes though a bad experience and sometimes through prejudiced political beliefs.
What isn’t disputed is the excellent education environment the private school system offers with teachers, pupils and parents generally sharing the same values and aspirations which create a positive learning environment and excellent results.
These schools offer scholarships which come with fee discounts for those pupils able to demonstrate an area where their child excels either in academics or sports. This can equate to 5-50% off school fees which just might make it affordable for some parents.
However, you are in a competition with other parents all claiming their child is an excellent sports person but offering little evidence in support.
You have the advantage of your child being in an academy and, if nothing ever happens football wise, it might just unlock a fantastic opportunity for your child to attend a private school and receive a great education.
Some clubs will even write to the admissions head to support your application. But do your homework. Some schools have a skew to either being rugby or football orientated. Rugby is predominantly favoured by most private schools. You should also check out their academic timetable. Many of the boarding schools offer sport in the afternoon and then lessons late afternoon and early evening as well as homework. You and your child can’t be in two places at the same time so that would rule those schools out.
Some clubs in the Premier League will educate your child privately in return for a move closer to the club and for day release.
There is often a tension with parents and schools, with parents feeling their children are obliged to play for both the school and for the Academy but matches and training times may compete and clash.
The more enlightened schools will recognise that your child will learn very little from playing in a school match and shouldn’t insist your child plays.
Academy staff judge the progress of your child based on their match and training performance at the club. As a rule of thumb they don’t take into account if your child has just played 60-90 minutes for the school before an academy match.
A tired looking performance will trigger a low performance score against your child's performance record.
Injury Risk From Over Playing
Academy training is intensive. The fitness of children in academy football is significantly above other children and they need time to recover and repair from the intensity of academy football.
Generally speaking they need at least 24 hours to recover from a match or risk injury. Injuries through wear and tear are generally minor up until the teenage years. But when they hit puberty and begin growth spurts, the bones and muscles often grow at different rates creating stress.
Too much football and sport can bring about injuries that take months to repair.
These tend to manifest themselves around the ankles, knees, and groin when tendons rupture and, children may experience some minor stress fractures in the lower spine. Lower spine?! That sounds alarming. It isn't, it's just painful and may take a few months to recover.
You should never hide injuries from the club. If your child is injured, don’t play and risk a poor performance being recorded. Clubs expect your child to experience injuries and usually have great physios and facilities to help your child recover.
If you don't tell them, they will simply see a poor performance and mark it accordingly. So you need to manage the school and club when your child plays and when they don’t.
If your school is smart they might request your child is available for the occasional cup match to reduce the physical stress on your child.
