Bradley Pritchard’s journey has, in his own words, ‘led him at times meandering all over the place’, but he always knew studying alongside playing was important to achieve his overriding goal of helping others.
Pritchard played in non-league football up until 2011 when he signed for Charlton Athletic from Hayes & Yeading. He went on to make 79 appearances for The Addicks, while also working as a performance analyst at the club.
During his professional playing career, Pritchard also managed to take the time to study a law degree. This gave him a head start when he retired from the professional game and on completion of his studies, he took up work as a paralegal in a law firm specialising in immigration.
Interestingly, his time in the office coincided with Brexit which meant a large workload and dealing with a lot of changing legislation. Pritchard ultimately made the decision to leave this role, going on to train as a behaviour mentor, working with children with more challenging needs; be this educational or emotional.
Using his experience and insight, he decided to set up The Sporting Way, running emotional development and emotional literacy programmes for children and young people in schools and youth centres.
He hopes to educate and inspire young people through sport. The Sporting Way has also led him back to his old club Charlton Athletic, working with the scholars to try and give them an identity outside of football and looking at their social competence.
FIND OUT MORE….
Personal development is a key focus of the work carried out by the Education department at the PFA. The PFA Charity can provide support and advice to help you achieve your educational goals.
If you are thinking about your future after football and want to find out what options are available to you – why not to arrange a telephone consultation with the Education team? Simply, send you name and PFA number to education@thepfa.com.
