University of South Wales kicks off first Football Conference

by Julie Kissick

The inaugural Football Conference of the University of South Wales took place yesterday and attracted positive feedback from delegates.

The brainchild of Dr Ceri Bowley, course leader, BSc (Hons) Football Coaching & Performance, the event was a mixture of presentations and practical sessions, led by some big names in the game in Wales.

Former Wales captain Craig Bellamy was the keynote speaker, talking about his transition from player to coach and the people who influenced him along the way.

Barry Town manager, Gavin Chesterfield, who is also a senior lecturer at USW, offered insight into ‘learning efficiency’ among players and challenged attendees to think about how the people they coach process information and gain ‘wisdom’.

Former Swansea City and Middlesbrough first team coach David Adams, now with the FAW Trust, shared his expertise both in the classroom and with a practical session on the pitch at the newly extended Sport Park.

“Like all good ideas this started off as a conversation and it developed from there,” explained Dr Bowley.

“I’m passionate about what we do here at USW, and this was an opportunity to bring together our students, our staff, sponsors, those who support us and offer a day which was going to influence and inform everyone on some level.”

The other conference contributors were James Turner and Ben Stanway who offered an insight into their study, Goals and Attempts in Tournament Football; USW’s Professor Ian Jeffreys who delivered the practical elements of the game speed model and Richard Williams from the Football Association of Wales who talked about the ‘Welsh Way’.

The ambition is that the Football Conference will become an annual event and Dr Bowley is also working on a number of themed conferences which are scheduled for the new academic year. These will include female speakers after the main female contributor for the inaugural conference had to pull out late on.

“It’s now time to reflect and build on what we did for this conference and use that to inform what we do for our next event, which is Developing the Adolescent Performer.

“We want to make sure these are well attended and represent the very best of what we do here at USW,” added Dr Bowley.

These conferences will see students and staff collaborating again, including with those on the Sports Journalism course.

Delegates at the conference told us what they thought of the conference and they also shared their feedback on Twitter via the #USWEnhanceTheGame:

A #ThoughtProvoking day spent at the #Inaugural USW #FootballConference at the brilliant & top class training environment at @UniSouthWales #SportPark great #Speakers #Practitioners #KeyNoteSpeakers excellent #CPD for @CAVC_Football staff #USWEnhanceTheGame pic.twitter.com/TML5QUP7R9

— Jamie Sherwood 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 (@torquay3jay) 22 July 2018

Top class day spent attending the USW Football Conference @UniSouthWales with @CAVC_Football Academy staff!
Fantastic theory and practical sessions delivered full of insightful information on the game⚽ Looking forward to the next one!#USWEnhanceTheGame pic.twitter.com/ULSQu9C6Ym

— RhysSchuster (@rhysschuster97) 22 July 2018

What a great way to spend a Sunday. Lucky enough today to attend the @USW_FootballCP football conference. Fantastic speakers and fantastic facilities. Thanks especially to @CeriBowley for setting it up. I cannot wait for the next one. #USWEnhanceTheGame pic.twitter.com/4eJg9Jevd6

— Isaac Berry (@Isaac_Berry9) 22 July 2018

The key sponsors of the event were SBG Sports, The Coaching Manual, SoccerPulse, Catapult, Hudl, SportsViz, Human Kinetics and Total Teamwear.

There will be more from the conference, including an insightful interview with Craig Bellamy, throughout the coming week.