PROFESSIONAL CRICKETERS BENEFIT FROM PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT AND WELFARE PROGRAMME

PROFESSIONAL CRICKETERS BENEFIT FROM PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT AND WELFARE PROGRAMME Professional cricketers in England and Wales are better prepared than ever for life outside of cricket thanks to the work of the Professional Cricketers’ Association’s Personal Development and Welfare Programme. The PCA has a six-strong team of Personal Development and Welfare Managers who work with the 18 first-class counties across the country offering a range of services, including winter workshops, work experience and career planning through personal development programmes to contracted and academy players. Last winter three Yorkshire players, Tim Bresnan, Richard Pyrah and Andrew Hodd, went on a plumbing and plastering course in Bradford and Lancashire all-rounder Luke Procter began training as a barber at his local salon in Saddleworth. They are among the 82 per cent of contracted players who now have an individual personal development plan alongside playing cricket which is an increase from 74 per cent in 2014 and 66 per cent in 2013. Over 200 players attended one of the 30 workshops organised by the PCA last winter which included media training, public speaking, leadership, financial and budgeting skills and trade skills. A third of players were involved in work experience during the off-season as part of their personal development plan and 35 per cent studied for formal qualifications. “When Chris Lewis was released from prison two weeks ago having served six years of a 13 year sentence for drug smuggling he said that after finishing cricket his thinking went awry and that he had made wrong choices.. Perhaps this could have been different had he had PDM help and a clear career plan when he retired from playing in 2000,” said Jason Ratcliffe, the PCA assistant chief executive. “Chris and many others who played significant international cricket, during their careers, which leaves little time for anything else, didn’t have this type of support network while playing. “The PCA and ECB now have a robust personal development programme, which has been steadily developing since 2000 and therefore the opportunities to be fully prepared for life after cricket are multiple. “The PDWP has been devised to prepare young players for life as a professional cricketer and to help to make their transition to life outside the game as smooth as possible. It is reassuring to know that 82 per cent of current contracted players now have an individual personal development plan which is testament to the hard work of the PDWP team.” In addition to their work with contracted players an ECB Academy survey revealed that 90 per cent of academy cricketers have received lifestyle support and education through the PCA and ECB PDWP programme. Of those, 93 per cent of academy players believed the support had helped with their career guidance and planning and 78 per cent said were either happy or very happy with this education and support. Last winter the PCA PDWP team delivered 88 workshops to academy players across the country to help prepare players for life as a professional cricketer with lifestyle and self-management, social media, media training, finance and budgeting, presentation and communication skills among the subjects covered. All county academies received a compulsory PCA anti-corruption tutorial as part of the winter delivery. ” The PCA and ECB continue to deliver a robust development and welfare programme serving the individual needs of the players and the professional game,” said Ian Thomas, the PCA National Personal Development manager: ” We are now in a position of better preparing players to become professional cricketers with our academy in put, and continually supporting those players graduating onto professional playing staffs. ” The players’ understanding and buy-in to developing themselves as individuals alongside cricket performance is at an all-time high with 82% of players having a personal development plan. ” Developing this culture at county cricket clubs is something that all coaching, support and administrative staff should take credit for as they continually support the PCA and its PDM team getting this message across to players” . {{ak_sharing}}