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Society Member Steven Rands has made great use of his time during lockdown, by setting up The Therapist in Football Podcast.
Steven has been chatting with therapists from non-league to professional level, looking at their backgrounds, why they took the route they did, how they arrived in their current roles, and gaining some insight into life in football.
He said :
‘In football there are few opportunities to network with other practitioners, so I thought this would offer scope to build and network and have almost a bank of people within the game to communicate with.
‘Football is so manic and the workload is so heavy that people rarely have the time to pick up the phone and chat to people. The time you do see people is either at a conference like the FMPA’s or at a match, but that might be all of three minutes and that could be chatting about the Emergency Action Plan.’
To date, Steven has just undertaken his sixth interview; this time a compelling chat with Society Member Mike Hine, Head of Sports Science and Medicine at Lincoln City Football Club.
Society members Luke Robertson, Head Therapist at AFC Eskilstuna in Sweden and Ashley Proctor, Head Sports Therapist at Guiseley AFC, have also given inspiring accounts of their journeys so far. All three interviews reflect a great openness and honesty and they are a must listen for anyone looking to embark on a career in football or who feels work experience is a waste of time.
But Steven is not looking to provide just a Sports Therapy perspective. He said:
‘The aim is to provide a platform to listen to people from different backgrounds, whether a Sports Therapist, a Physio or a Sports Rehabilitator. If you have the drive to work in football, the aim is to show there are lots of different routes into it and how the experiences can vary greatly. Each has been on their own personal journey.
‘For example in the first episode I spoke to Gary Faber who started a physiotherapy degree later than the usual route and undertook it on a part-time basis. In episode five I talked to ex professional footballer Jonathan Margetts. He suffered a bad knee injury and surgery and subsequent rehab was not effective enough to allow him to continue at the top level. He moved into semi pro football part time and decided to take the PFA physiotherapy degree course at Salford.
‘Not only are there different pathways into the game but there are lots of different reasons for going into the different roles within football. It is great to hear people’s journeys and get a real insight into what life is like.’
Steven is a Graduate in Sports Therapy from the University of Hertfordshire and he completed his Masters in Sport & Exercise Medicine at Leeds Beckett University. He undertook his Masters part-time while working at Lincoln City FC. Steven now runs his own Sports Therapy Clinic, SR Sports Therapy in Lincolnshire and he is also an Associate Lecturer on the MSc Sports Therapy Course at the University of Lincoln.
Steven has also recently started to host a ‘Therapists in Football’ networking group once a month. Again taking the multi-disciplinary approach, he is looking to bring together a real mix of people from individuals undertaking internships to ones in both self-employed and employed roles.
Details of all of Steven’s podcasts to date can be found https://sr-sportstherapy.co.uk/podcast
If you have an interest in football they are definitely worth a listen.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]