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The Sports department at Nelson and Colne College Sixth Form, which has seen sporting stars such as Olympic medallist Steven Burke, and England Women’s Goalkeeper Rachel Brown pass through its doors, is keen to provide a wide education to its students in order to promote excellence and success.

At the Football Club, the students learnt how Blackburn Rovers works in the community to offer sporting activities to the public, and how the club creates elite sportsmen and women. There are many employment opportunities available within the Football Industry, from working as a Steward or club nutritionist, to working as a coach, physiotherapist or even in the press office! This trip helped to highlight that whilst it is good to have high ambitions of being a professional player, there are many fantastic careers available to them off the pitch too!

Students took a tour of the 4.7 million pound youth academy, which costs 3 million pounds per year to run and has 61 full time members of staff. They were also pleased to meet the head of the youth academy Phil Cannon, who had ‘spotted’ such football stars as Wayne Rooney and Theo Walcott. They were also able to take part in a question and answer session with him about how he got to the top and what the students could do to get to a similar position.

In a further presentation with the Club’s Education Department, the students learnt about the sporting opportunities offered by Blackburn Rovers to the general public to help them be fitter and more active. This opened up a discussion about how they could get involved with this and the different jobs they could do.

And for aspiring players, the group met two young footballers who are hoping to be professionals. They were able to discuss their thoughts and feelings about life as a professional and how the players were progressing. They also discussed the sacrifices that are necessary to play as a professional and the determination needed for success.