The Premier League Enterprise Challenge has kicked off for the 2016/17 season and Blackpool FC Community Trust held Club Heats yesterday, to see which local high school has what it takes to represent the Trust at a regional and national level, in a competition that encourages young people to come up with ideas related to a football business task.
The Premier League Enterprise programme, which began in 2009 and which is run in partnership with Sport Relief, has seen over 11,000, thirteen-to-fifteen year-olds take part in educational sessions with clubs. The programme uses the business models of professional football clubs to engage young people in educational activity and the Challenge is the national competition element of the year-long schools’ delivery.
Blackpool FC Community Trust’s Club Heat was attended by a number of teams from high schools in Blackpool and the students, from Years 9 and 10, delivered their football business presentation to the three judges on the panel.
Sitting on the judges panel, were Blackpool FC Community Trust’s Chief Executive Ashley Hackett, Blackpool FC Chief Executive Alex Cowdy and renown chef and local businessman Paul Rowley. Blackpool FC Chief Executive Alex Cowdy congratulated all the students who participated. Alex said, “I very much enjoyed being on the judging panel. Well done to all for taking part.”
Jack Shields who delivers the Premier League Enterprise programme was delighted with the club heat and believes the competition was at an excellent standard. Jack said, “It’s been a really positive turn-out. We’ve competed in the Premier League Enterprise Challenge for a number of years and have been crowned National Champions on two occasions. The students have really enjoyed learning the business aspect of football and their presentations were brilliant. We are looking forward to moving on to the regional stage of the competition.”
