Meet Beth
I’m Beth, and like you, I am a parent navigating the youth football industry and probably also like you, an Uber driver, personal chef specialising in pesto pasta and PA managing the 45 different WhatsApp groups dedicated to my children’s sport and social club activities!
I have 3 children, my eldest hates football, but my twins are football mad! Both signed for academies at U9, my daughter was released 2 years later, my son remains in the system, currently in the U12’s.
In my other life, I have spent over 25 years in education, first as a PE teacher, then a school leader specialising in pastoral care, health and wellbeing. I work with children, teenagers and their families to help develop healthy wellbeing and digital habits that can help them towards their goals.
There is no doubt that this is an extremely challenging time of life for adolescents and their parents, made all the more complicated by technology! As a parent of a youth footballer, you may find that you also have different challenges, for example:
- How to keep your job while trying to get your child to 100 training sessions a week
- How to manage the balance between supporting your child’s footballing dreams and persuading them that they still need to work towards their GCSE Maths
- How to convince them that just because Kevin De Bruyne is brilliant at Fortnite, it doesn’t mean they can stay up gaming all night
- How to reduce endless social media scrolling that can influence both your child’s ability to focus and their self-esteem
The list goes on!
While I certainly do not have all the answers (just to manage expectations!), I hope I can help parents facing some of these dilemmas or their own, to feel more positive, supported and empowered, in a non-judgemental, confidential space.
