PCA Futures Week has explored career progression stories from the PCA membership, as players look to enhance their personal development.
In the weeks leading up to the event, the PCA spoke to players about their personal development journeys and any advice they could pass on to fellow professionals looking to go through transition. You can find out more about these stories here: Hassan Azad, Phoebe Graham and James Harris.
The flagship event of Futures Week is always the PCA Futures Conference, where players are given the opportunity to learn from industry experts and put those skills into practice.
Professional cricketers from across the country and of all ages attended the conference, including 20-year-old Scotland international and the youngest ever Futures Conference Olivia Bell, alongside 36-year-old former Nottinghamshire bowler Luke Fletcher and 25-year-old Dillon Pennington.
Members took part in 13 sessions throughout the conference which included workshops, activities and discussions aimed at helping players find their future career and make the transition process run smoothly.
The two-day event held at the England football team’s training base, St George’s Park, took place on Wednesday 6 and Thursday 7 November as players gained vital expertise from guest speakers.
On day one, PCA Personal Development Manager, Jas Singh, took the players through the ‘Planning a Career Pivot’ seminar followed by a ‘Presenting the best version of you’ session with former player and coach Paul Shaw.
In the afternoon, the players heard from the PCA’s Official Financial Wellbeing Partner, Brooks Macdonald, and took part in an ‘Influencing Skills’ seminar, also facilitated by Shaw.
Day one finished with a ‘Journey of a Player’ session in which Phoebe Graham, Rich Morris and Will Jefferson shared their own stories, offering advice on how to elevate your personal development, before the players were taken on a tour of the facilities at St George’s Park.
As part of Futures Week, the PCA explored transition stories of from current and past players with the PCA speaking to former Yorkshire and Northamptonshire bowler Moin Ashraf on his inclusive coaching business MACC Academy and newly appointed Warwickshire Rep Abbey Freeborn, who is working towards an Investment Management Certificate.
Exploring personal development is of paramount importance considering the average age a player is released from the game is under 26. In the last 12 months, Personal Development Managers have recorded 4,870 meetings with 785 current and former players, personal development being one of the key topics discussed.
On day two, Personal Development Manager, Martin Cropper, led the ‘Working with Transition’ session and Tim Clancy from LinkedIn delivered a seminar on how to best utilise the platform.
The Official Partner of the PCA Futures Awards, Lodders Solicitors, delivered a session on the world of work and skill development, before Rob Geraghty facilitated an engaging workshop on ‘Presenting and Networking’.
The event concluded with a ‘Networking Carousel’, which included PCA Tax / Accountancy Education Partner Clay GBP, where attendees put into practice the skills they’d learnt over the two days with speakers from different industries and PCA partners.
Taking place between Monday 4 – Sunday 10 November, PCA Futures Week encourages cricketers to consider their second career as early as possible and start preparing as they look towards the future.
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