NORWELL WINS PCA PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT SCHOLARSHIP
11 February 2015
Gloucestershire seamer Liam Norwell has been awarded one of the Professional Cricketers’ Association Personal Development Scholarships.
The scholarships were introduced by the PCA in 2013 to find and reward the most proactive members, past and present, on or off the pitch, in the area of Personal Development.
The initiative seeks to incentivise past members who have moved on to new career pathways as well as encouraging current players to plan and prepare for their future off the pitch.
Norwell won a Newcomers Personal Development Scholarship along with Mike Yardy of Sussex. Derbyshire wicketkeeper Tom Poynton and Somerset batsman James Hildreth were winners in the Current Players Personal Development category, with Sussex club coach Mark Davis and former Warwickshire off-spinner Maurice Holmes the winners in the Past Players Personal Development category.
All six will each receive a scholarship of £1,000 towards Personal Development course funding, resources of their choice or to reimburse costs already incurred.
Norwell trained as a barista at the Extract Coffee Company in Bristol last year and has ambitions to run his own coffee shop in the future.
He has also had work experience at the Boston Tea Party and is now studying on a business course at the online Smarta Business School.
“Winning a PCA Scholarship means a lot. Putting together the presentation is not something I have done since school. I was quite far outside my comfort zone so to get myself to do it and being one of the winners it feels really rewarding,” Norwell said.
“I put myself outside my comfort zone and forced myself to do it. It’s been rewarding and I learned a lot from it.”
The enforced retirement of his county team-mate Ian Saxelby because of injury midway through last season made Norwell think more about his own potential career after cricket and with support from Ian Thomas, one of the PCA’s six –strong team of Personal Development Managers, he began planning for the future.
“Starting my own coffee shop is something I’m really interested in. I really enjoyed my work experience last year and it’s something that I will slowly build towards,” he said.
“I’d like to play cricket for as long as possible but, whenever it ends, that’s something that I would really like to go into.
“I think Personal Development is massive especially from doing the research I have done for my presentation and the interview process for the scholarships.
“I don’t think people always understand quite how much your life will change when you finish playing cricket.
“It’s massive and you have to be able to set yourself in something and be able to earn.
“Last year it hit our changing room when Ian Saxelby had to retire on no notice because of an injury and that got people thinking.
“After that I made sure that I got myself on a course to make sure that I am setting myself up with something.
“Last year I did the training to be a barista and I thought there was no point in doing that and not following up on it.
“I went round looking for the right course for me and this one came up.”
The PCA Personal Development Scholarships were judged by Angus Porter, the PCA Chief Executive, Jason Ratcliffe, the PCA Assistant Chief Executive, Ian Thomas, the PCA National Personal Development Manager and Charlie Mulraine, one of the six-strong team of PCA Personal Development Managers.
“In the second year of running the PCA Personal Development Scholarship Awards, we were extremely proud of the 20 quality applications we received,” said Thomas.
“It is a fantastic indication of the development culture the PCA is aiming to create amongst our members.
“Statistics are showing how current players strongly believe having a Personal Development plan is aiding personal performance, lessening performance-based anxiety and increasing confidence in many areas of life.”
