From hospital ward to football pitch
By: Communications
Toby Wellard is a final year BSc PE, Sport and Health student, whose passion for mental health and wellbeing has led to an unexpected career path working with professional football players at Norwich City Academy.
What brought you to UEA?
I grew up dreaming of becoming a doctor. I spent a lot of time in hospital as a kid as my Dad had a life-changing accident when I was two years old, and both my parents worked in healthcare, so I always knew that’s what I wanted to do. However, in my first year of college, I destroyed my knee teaching badminton and spent six months in and out of hospital having surgery and there were a lot of complications. I got compartment syndrome, a blood clot, sepsis and septicemia. I could have lost my leg, and all this happened during the early days of Covid, so I spent a lot of time in hospital on my own. I was a really good cyclist before this and was training to take part in the Giro d’Italia.
By the time I returned to college, I’d missed a lot of classes and the chance to take my medical entry exams, so I had to totally rethink what I was going to do with my life. That’s when I decided to study sport and was given an unconditional offer on the BSc PE, Sport and Health course at UEA.
How did you feel about swapping your lifelong dreams of working in medicine for sport?
During the first term, I kept busy working towards my football coaching badges and toying with different ideas about what I might do after university; maybe teaching or sports coaching. But in the second term, life started catching up with me. My mental health deteriorated, I was drinking more and more, and I stopped going to the gym. I started having panic attacks and lost interest in everything. I eventually broke down and my mum booked me in for therapy, which I finished just before Christmas last year.
One of my lecturers really helped me during this time; in fact, I think of her as my second mum! She gave me support and helped with extensions, but she also held me accountable and gave me a kick up the backside when I needed it!
What impact have your recent experiences had on you today?
In my second year, I took a module in Partnerships and Sports Development, which made me want to find out more about working in the community, and with charities and the safeguarding side of sport. My module leader put me in touch with the Head of Education at the Norwich City Football Club Academy, and I’ve been an intern in the Player Care team ever since! I’m able to use the setbacks and challenges I faced over the last few years, along with the knowledge I’ve gained on my course to help support professional football players with their own health, wellbeing and education. I know what it means to struggle, and I can spot it in others – I've been there, so I know what it looks like.
Whilst working at the Club, I’ve also been able to collect data for my dissertation on parental perceptions of category one football clubs. I discovered there’s very little literature on the connection between family support, mental health and player success, so I started interviewing parents at the club.
What’s next for you, Toby?
Well, I hope to stay at the Academy after I graduate, but I’m also applying for Welfare Officer roles at other clubs. Player care is relatively new in football, and the culture of stigma around mental health and wellbeing is starting to change for the better, and I want to be a part of it.
How is your knee now?
I have permanent numbness in my knee and some funny looking scarring, but I can still play football!
Do you have any advice for students struggling with their mental health?
When you feel like you can’t, speak up.
Study PE Sport and Health at UEA