Footballers REAP rewards
20 May 2002

It is every young boy's dream to play premier league football. So when the selectors come calling with an offer of trainee-ship at a British club the young apprentice footballers leave school and home behind them to follow the dream.

What happens however when their football careers are cut short either by injury or non-selection for the club team?

This is a question that DCU students decided to 'tackle'.

Daragh Sheridan and Neil Coleman, students of the degree in sports science and health, have devised a unique course for young men, 18 - 21 years, who have been 'deselected' from the team that first opened the dream door. The course entitled REAP (Reinvention, Education, Appraisal, Preparation) starts on the 10 June 2002 and will run as a residential programme for six weeks.

DCU is providing the facilities with the support of senior lecturer Dr Niall Moyna. The FAI and PFA are providing the funding for now, but another source of future funding will be the EU Leonardo fund.

The programme will assess both the physical and the career strengths of the young men with the intention of preparing and helping them to devise a game plan for life. The course schedule covers everything from personal motivation to CV preparation.

This course shows tremendous initiative on the part of Daragh and Neil. We wish them and all participants every success with this venture. It is a new scheme and hopefully the first of many others