Australia NewsColosimo: Education Is Key |
EXCLUSIVE: PFA president Simon Colosimo says more A-League players have a Beckham business head and are moving beyond football.
The players union is handing out more business and education grants than ever with Newcastle Jets Adam D’Apuzzo and Central Coast Mariners’ Andrew Clark the first beneficiaries of Kimon Taliadoros scholarships to help them study.Sydney FC midfielder Colosimo is delighted more players are entering the game with an education behind them and in many cases wanting to further their education or explore business opportunities.
That applies from youngsters just entering a club through to senior Socceroos such as Sunday’s match-winning hero Josh Kennedy.
Colosimo told au.fourfourtwo.com: “A lot more players are a lot more conscious about things aside from just football. A lot more players have things they do outside of training and football.
“I think guys are pretty smart about this. David Beckham is a good example, he seems to have his finger in quite a few pies and seems to know what he’s doing.
“In the early days a lot more guys had education and schooling behind them and now it’s back to a situation where guys are coming into the game with that education once again.
“You look at Adam D’Apuzzo. He graduated with a score of 95.3 per cent, which is mind-blowing really. Then you have Andrew Clark, whose Sports Science research is being talked about in Europe. It's fantastic."
Colosimo hopes the trend will continue as players realise that there is more to life than football. He said: “Even with the guys who’ve earned decent money, it’s more the stimulation of actually doing something, guys want to do something after they’ve finished playing.
“I think we’ve gone from around five per cent of the league asking for grants to about 40 per cent and hopefully we as the PFA can continue to build and provide people with these opportunities.
“We’re hopefully doubling education grants next year. Although players pay fees you’re almost putting it straight back into the players.”
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