Education

Work Experience

This week, we are pleased to welcome Joe Norman, who is shadowing our physiotherapists for his work experience. Joe comes from the Wirral and has relatives in Bury. He is a G.C.S.E. student who is interested in looking at physiotherapy as a career. We hope he enjoys his week with us.

In the Education and Welfare section for the young players at Bury FC, we do exactly what our name suggests - look after all our young players, whether schoolboys, girls or our apprentices. This means talking to school staff to keep them informed of a player’s progress in training and matches, and finding out how he is progressing at school. We will also talk to parents, and carry out regular reviews with young players to make sure they are happy with their work in the club. For the apprentices, we arrange and monitor college and other training, to prepare them for the time when they are no longer playing, whenever that may be.

It is very important to us that all young players enjoy their time at the club and make the most of it, so we are also there to chat about anything which may be worrying you or causing a problem, and to find a solution wherever possible.

I am the Manager for Education and Welfare, and am your first point of contact; but I work closely with the whole team including the Child Protection Officer, so there will always be someone you can talk to about your progress or anything else.

Looking forward to working with you,

Trish Keppie

ARCHIVE: New arrival ensures apprentices are always learning - "The Shakers" match programme

A new arrival to the Gigg Lane fold is Trish Keppie, an experienced tutor with a keen sporting background, who assumes responsibility for education and welfare at the club. In her position as officer for the two disciplines, Trish’s primary role is to ensure that the schooling needs of any player within the club are met, primarily for youth team players on the new Modern Apprenticeship in Sporting Excellence (MASE) scheme and in maintaining strong relations with the teachers of all Centre of Excellence players, as well as arranging any extra tutoring that members of the senior set-up may require.

Discussing her new role at Gigg Lane, Trish said:

I’m looking to support all the staff at the club with regards to educational needs, to ensure that we offer the best possible learning environment, as well as being able to offer an excellent footballing environment. Our obvious aim is to nurture talented footballers, but it’s a sad fact that unfortunately many players either won’t make it or could suffer a serious injury at any time, so we aim to ensure that the players learn enough skills outside football to have something to fall back on when their career ends. The same goes for senior players, who we are happy to help, as of course they will still need to work once they finish playing.

Trish explained that players now signing on youth team contracts will undertake the new MASE course, which takes place over two years, rather than the previous three-year schooling which is being phased out, with last year’s youth team intake the last group to sign on for that scheme. Detailing how the new scheme works, she said:

The MASE is a positive development, and is being adopted by elite athletes in sports such as rugby, cricket and golf. It uses a personal approach to schooling, so that players focus on areas that recognise their skills in a particular area, which in the case of these lads will obviously be football-related, and will hopefully develop their knowledge and understanding of the industry. It is a Level 3 NVQ qualification, the framework of which also enables the players to be awarded BTEC qualifications in certain areas. The lads spend a day and a half per week at their respective colleges undertaking this work, as well as receiving various tutoring here at the ground from people such as Chris Casper, Ian Willcock and myself. The players have to be committed to their studies, as it forms a valuable part of the all-round education in life skills that we are aiming to provide at the club.

Speaking with regards to the schooling of Centre of Excellence players, Trish added:

We feel it is very important that we create strong ties and friendships with the teachers at the primary and secondary schools that our younger players attend, as we want to ensure that both parties can provide the best for the children. Rather than waiting for problems to arise before contacting a player’s school, we want to get to know their teachers, particularly in the PE department from our point of view, to make sure that everything’s OK with regards to all aspects of the child’s development. Every person is an individual and we need to treat them as such, and the only way to make sure we do this right is to learn each player’s individual needs and try our best to suit them.