Fran enhancing her personal development

Western Storm batter and former England international Fran Wilson is encouraging her peers to sign up to Futures Conference 2023 and ‘ask as many questions as possible.’

The 31-year-old is balancing her playing career whilst working as a personal development officer for Bristol Bears Women’s rugby team and recommends players broadening their horizons.

Futures Conference 2023 is a two-day event full of seminars and workshops and is the centrepiece of PCA’s Futures Week, that aims to promote and showcase the positive work being done by members to enhance their own personal development and career transitions.

Part of the PCA Personal Development and Welfare Programme, the Futures Conference, is an annual event aimed at supporting members with information, advice and guidance on continued personal development and opportunities available to supplement their playing career and prepare for future employment.

In the lead up to this year’s Futures Conference, which takes place between November 1st and 2nd at the Loughborough Elite Athlete Centre, the PCA will be providing a platform for members to tell their stories on their experiences of Futures Week. The Conference allows players to interact with one another as well as building relationships with leading professionals, allowing them to network and grow their skills base.

Fran, who was capped 64 times by England, attended the event in 2021 and outlines what skills she gained from the event.

What were your motivations behind attending the Futures Conference?

“I attended the Futures Conference in 2021 and my motivations were to meet other cricketers in the same position as me, to do some networking and see what everyone else was up to. It’s a great way of trying to work out what to do next if you’re unsure of where to go once you finish playing.”

What did you learn from the experience?

“My best take away was from listening to the speakers that came in. I found it very interesting to hear from people in industries that I’d never really considered going in to. It was interesting to see the different options because you can get quite narrow minded in cricket.”

Where are you currently with your personal development?

“Currently I’m working with Bristol Bears women’s rugby team as a personal development officer, which has been a really cool to be involved in and to use my experiences in cricket but also within coaching and in life to help other athletes going through transitions off the pitch.”

What courses are you currently studying?

“I’m doing my coaching professional level five apprenticeship which has been really good. It’s about learning on the job and it’s great to apply my skills across the board. I’m also doing a qualification for personal development officers, so I’m keeping really busy.”

Do you have any advice for those thinking about attending this year’s Futures Conference event?

“The advice I have if people are not sure of attending would be if you can, please do get yourself there. It’s so valuable. Try to get into as many conversations and ask as many questions as you possibly can to try and gauge an idea of what you want to do after cricket.”