Rebuilding the Belief Conference – April 13, 2018

14 Mar Rebuilding the Belief Conference – April 13, 2018

Putting the voice of the child first in football

CGM Media Centre, Cadbury House, Blackpole East, Worcester, WR3 8SG

Friday, April 13, 10am-4pm

Six speakers

Two discussion panels

Lots of debate on THE burning topic in English football

An all-day conference exploring the positive and proactive ways in which English football can put the best interests of children first in football from grass roots to professional academies.

Delegate attendance fee: £30+VAT, includes buffet lunch

Tickets can be booked via Eventbrite. 

Sponsorship and advertising opportunities available 

WHAT IS IT ABOUT?

The English football academy system is broken.

It hasn’t protected children. It causes mental health problems. Fewer home grown players reach pro club first teams than ever and a chasm has opened up between rich and poor clubs.

England’s elite clubs now trawl for ever younger talent without tangible evidence of success and often with scant regard to the welfare, safety and psychological and social impact on the children they seek to recruit and the families they unsettle.

Less than one per cent of players who join pro academies ‘make it’ and many of those who fall by the wayside carry a feeling of failure with them – a process which now starts from the age of five-years-old upwards.

We know the problems. What about the solutions?

It is time for a fresh and positive approach that puts the best interests of the child first not last.

This conference will:

Explore alternatives

Put the voice of the child first

Find ways to make junior and academy football better

Rebuilding the Belief is also the title of Chris Green’s forthcoming sequel to Every Boy’s Dream (A&C Black 2009), an award-winning book on this subject.

OUR SPEAKERS 

Paul Cooper – National Children’s Football Alliance, Give Us Back Our Game and Free v Free annual campaign

Phil Johnson – Sports and exercise psychologist, former team psychologist at AS Monaco

Tim Kirk – Under 13s coach at Borussia Dortmund and founder of Bath and Wiltshire Boys, part of the Bath & Wiltshire School Sport Trust, a charity which offers sporting opportunities for young people

Robert Stephenson – Founder and CEO of multi-award-winning  youth social enterprise programme, Blastbeat, and currently trialing a new project, FootBeat, which aims to provide a life skills programme for academy players

Jameel Hadi MBE – Social work lecturer at Salford University and founder of Participation Through Sport (2003 to 2013)

Chris Green – host and author of Every Boy’s Dream – England’s Football Future on the Line (A&C Black, 2009) – nominated for 2010 British Sports Book of the Year and managing partner of Chris Green Media

WHO SHOULD ATTEND? 

– Sports academics and teachers

– Sports media

– Junior coaches and clubs

– Anyone who cares about the voice of the child in sport  

FURTHER INFORMATION

For further information contact CGM on 01905 754336 / info@chrisgreenmedia.co.uk or send us a message via our contact us page.