West Ham United’s Academy of Football marked this year’s Play Safe Weekend by celebrating the voices of our young players.
The FA campaign unites all levels of English football to champion safeguarding, with this year's theme, 'Small Talk Is Bigger Than You Think', encouraging adults to start open conversations and listen to young people to give them a voice.
In the build-up, players from the U9s to U14s squads shared their thoughts on how the Academy experience could be enhanced through a series of workshops. Their ideas ranged from walking out with senior West Ham United teams on matchdays, holding Togetherness days for all age groups, more practical suggestions such as support with schoolwork and the provision of accessing football boots.
Academy Head of Education & Player Care Manager Jamie Bather explained: “The purpose of doing these activities and workshops is to continue to celebrate and showcase the voices of our Academy players; to develop and embrace their ideas whilst championing our Academy safeguarding provision.”
Academy Player Care Officer Catherine Stidwill added: “We were able to capture the voices of our young players who responded to the workshops with some brilliant ideas and suggestions to improve their Academy experience.
"We have a Player Voice board at Chadwell Heath which will showcase ideas that have been actioned. Not only are we raising awareness for listening, talking and looking after each other as part of this campaign, but celebrating receiving feedback from our players and actioning these to make the Academy a better place for everyone.”
The Academy will now work towards actioning the players’ suggestions, keeping Player Voice as a central part of our plans and reaffirming that safeguarding is not confined to a single weekend but is a year-round commitment.
