Velocity Football, a full-time educational establishment that combines academia with football and sport business for those aiming for a career in sport, has strengthened its personal development programme.

Velocity has enhanced its broader curriculum plan based around themes such as leadership in real life scenarios.

Among this year’s speakers have been members of the police force, the army and Red Card Gambling.

They spoke to players on topics which raised awareness of violence against women and girls, explored careers and opportunities for continued sporting development within the armed forces, and discussed the risks associated with addictions such as gambling and gaming.

These lectures formed part of Velocity’s goal for players to graduate not only with skills and qualifications, but with the ability to contribute something of value to real life scenarios.

Eddie Odhiambo, head of football at Velocity, said: “We want our players to leave us having received a broad and well-rounded education.

“A key aspect of this is arming them with the necessary life skills for whatever the future may throw at them.

“At Velocity, we think of education in terms of pathways, such as values, wellbeing, mental health, work experience and professional development.

“These visits are a valuable addition to the teaching we provide in supporting many of these areas.”

He added: “A good education goes beyond skills developed on the football pitch. To be well educated means developing skills which can be applied into the real world and we’re proud of the programme we have put in place to support our players in doing exactly that.”

Tony Kelly, CEO and founder of Red Card Gambling Support Project, led one of the sessions.

He said: “We have delivered over 100 gambling awareness workshops to young people.

“It’s important we educate and raise awareness of gambling and gaming related harm to reduce the risk of individuals falling into bad habits.

“We enjoyed meeting players on the Velocity programme and hope they found our session educational with some genuine take-outs they can apply in the real world.”

Another guest speaker was Peter Ciechan, sergeant at Thames Valley Police, who discussed violence against women and girls.

He said: “Violence against women and girls was an important topic for players to hear about – it’s prevalent in the world around us.

“Listening to our first-hand experiences helped educate players about the realities of certain behaviours and increased awareness to help prevent them from being caught up in it in the future.”