Richard Luscombe Future footballers and young people aspiring to work in sport on the Plymouth Post-16 Football and Education programme were treated to an inspirational visit from Argyle first-team winger Xavier Amaechi at their session at The Hub at Foulston Park.
The session, created by Plymouth Post-16 Lead Tutor Dan Yeoman, was designed to support students’ understanding of the psychological factors involved in becoming a professional football and how to use resilience to overcome these challenges.
The visit began with a practical session focused on psychology, followed by a question and answers session with Xavier. Students tailored their questions to support their own personal barriers, allowing Xavier to draw on his knowledge and experience of first-team professional football to offer expert advice the young learners wouldn’t normally have access to.
Xavier said: “It’s really great to be here at The Hub at Foulston Park to give advice and motivation to the young people.
“As a role model, if they have that dream to be a professional footballer, they can get some insight into what it took to get there from me.”
Plymouth student Joel Thomas added that the visit was highly valuable: “It was really inspiring and definitely helped a lot. He gave good advice which I will take on the pitch myself, about confidence and dealing with pressure.”
The Argyle Post-16 programme gives male and female school leavers the opportunity to gain a BTEC Level 3 extended diploma, equivalent to three A-levels, while training and playing as a football scholar representing Argyle.
Dan Yeoman concluded: “It was excellent to have Xavier here today to inspired learners to improve their own personal journey in education and football.”
Find out more about our courses in Plymouth, Cornwall, and Newton Abbot https://argylecommunitytrust.co.uk/what-we-do/post-16-football-programme/.
Argyle Post-16 Football and Education. Not your average college programme.
