One of the lucky ones
Hi. Hope you are all well.
During the free time available to me since the end of the season, I have been reading up (yes, players do read!) on the various initiatives that the Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) are involved in.
One scheme which caught my eye is called the Progression strategy.
Run by the PFA and LFE (League Football Education), it is designed to deal with the "fall out" from professional football among young players - in other words, the 40% of apprentices who do not earn a professional contract.
In order to help these young players, a series of "assessment trials" were organised.
The trials took place on 12, 13 and 14 May at different locations around the country.
The aim is to re-route as many of these players as possible into either professional or semi-professional football in the UK and across Europe. There are also a number of universities from both the UK and the USA looking to recruit these players on sports scholarships.
Hello, I'm Gavin Strachan. I describe myself as a "journeyman" player after 13 years in the game as a professional. I'm currently between clubs, having been released by Notts County. I'm also studying journalism and the aim of my blog is to provide an insight into the life of a footballer.
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