Many students who join UCFB and GIS do so with the aim of gaining the knowledge and experience needed to go on and work at the elite levels of the football industry. For GIS student Marcia Lewis, it’s about aiding her son’s own ambitions within the game.
Marcia, a MSc Football Business student at UCFB Wembley, joined the programme last year to better understand the inner workings of the global game and to help guide her son, who’s currently in the youth set-up at a Premier League club.
From agents to commercial deals, Marcia has already seen first-hand how young players and their families can be enticed into making rash decisions before their career has even begun.
On her decision to join the MSc Football Business programme, Marcia said: “I want to know why so few kids in academies go on to play professionally, and what is the reason that some kids succeed? Understanding the fundamentals of the football ecosystem helps with this.”
Describing her own interactions with agents in the game seeking to represent her son, Marcia added: “I’ve had many calls from agents and was disgusted with some of them and how early they approach despite regulations being in place – kids need to enjoy football and parents shouldn’t feel pressured to have these conversations well before its necessary.
“Joining this programme, I wanted to feel that I could understand the other side of my son’s journey and I wanted to be in a position to guide him. There’s very little information available beyond the practical support and logistics geared towards parents whose children are in academy set-ups.”
Marcia hopes that by joining the programme, she can then pass on this information to other parents, as well as clubs, agents and other bodies who represent young athletes at the beginning of their careers. Her plan post-graduation is to set-up an advisory service that can provide 1:1 support to parents, and run workshops for parents, clubs and agents to understand the different pressures and touchpoints of the young-athlete journey from all perspectives.
Marcia said: “I want to give back; this is what I’m passionate about. How can I support people needing access to this information to help them, whatever their position, going forward?"
