The latest of these focused on the sports industry, shining a spotlight not only on the career pathways for young people aspiring to play sport professionally, but also on the myriad of sports industry job roles that ensure sports people and sports events run optimally.

Timed to coincide with National Careers Week, the Foundation’s Sports Industry World of Work Week offered webinars, online question and answer sessions with industry professionals and ‘Day in the life’ videos covering a wide range of jobs in the sports and fitness sector.

An impressive list of contributors included Olympic Athlete Donna Fraser, OBE, national and internationally known sports women and men from Taekwondo, diving, cycling and BMX racing; athlete mentors; events companies; fitness and nutrition professionals; a BBC sports presenter and speakers from BT Sport and Sussex Cricket.

Of course, nothing can beat live interactions and so, wherever possible, we give the young people we support the opportunity to step out of their comfort zones to facilitate and host some of our Q&As. Watch our latest student interviews:

*Daniel and Elliot are also active and valued members of our new Youth Advisory Committee, helping to inform the work of the Foundation and champion our programmes and initiatives in their schools.

The videos and other careers resources remain online as part of our World of Work platform for students and teachers to use going forward, alongside content from previous World of Work weeks covering 15 different sectors so far, from media and communication to banking; from science and medicine to food and retail.

Aldridge Foundation Chief Executive Shona Nichols said: “By providing information, resources, experiences and support we aim to help young people take the next steps beyond school and into work or further education. With less work experience and internships available as we emerge from the pandemic these digital resources provide valuable information to refocus young people on their futures.

“It is our aim to help open young people’s eyes to the wide range of careers available to them and possible routes into them. Yes, we want to encourage, say, budding athletes to follow their dreams of playing top level sport, but we also want to reach and inspire those young people who enjoy maths, or science, or English, and show them how they can combine what they are good at with their passion for, in this case, sport.”

Our next World of Work Week, running from 14-18 June 2021, will focus on the healthcare industry. You can keep an eye out for more details by following us on Twitter or Instagram and if you know anyone who might like to get involved, please get in touch by emailing hello@aldridgefoundation.com