West Ham star praises UEL students
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Published
13 October 2022
West Ham United star Vladimír Coufal met second-year Sports Coaching and Performance students on Tuesday as part of West Ham United Foundation's partnership with the University of East London.
The Czech Republic international is an ambassador for the West Ham United Players' Project, which carries out community work on behalf of the club. During the afternoon, Vladimír spoke to the students about the stigma around talking about mental health and talked about his career.
Vladimír Coufal, West Ham United player
Vladimir Coufal and the West Ham United Foundation visited our sports coaching & performance students to discuss the importance of mental wellbeing.
Commenting on the importance of people reaching out to personal or professional support networks when they may be struggling with something, Vladimír said, "Mental health is really important for everyone including footballers. If we are mentally strong it helps us a lot when we play so if I have a problem, I always speak to my teammates, friends and my Mum and Dad. What they say can make a big difference and they all help me a lot."
The Sports Coaching and Performance degree at the School of Health, Sport and Bioscience, which provides a foundation year and third-year placements with a number of sports, gives students unique opportunities and experiences across the Premier League Football Club.
Vladimír's visit is just one example of the access the Sports Coaching and Performance students are given, with others consisting of match day experiences, international trips and lectures taught in world-leading facilities.
Vladimír, pictured below, took part in a Q&A with the students and gave his views on an exercise they were given on supporting the mental health of three groups; academy players, coaches and professional players. The presentations were of such a high standard that Vladimir declared them all 'winners'.
Dominic Edwards, Higher Education Manager for West Ham United Foundation said, "The Sport Coaching and Performance course provides students with practical, theory and work-based learning, which delivers quality coaching and creates an environment for high-performance athletes from which they can thrive.
"The visit today from Vladimir not only highlighted what an excellent ambassador he is for the club across the community, mental health and elite coaching but also the strong partnership UEL has in place with the West Ham United Foundation."
Vladimír, who spoke powerfully and openly about his own career journey. He said, "Today, was a very good experience for me. Just sitting down and talking to the students today showed me how clever they are and I think they can all become good managers. I hope my advice will help them and they gave me some good feedback but I took away a lot from the session as well."
BSc (Hons) Sports Coaching and Performance second-year student Jake Seva-Madden said, "It was a great session and it was so good to meet a Premier League player face-to-face and hear their insight and what they are like as a person. The discussion with Vladimir on mental health and how it has affected him and how he had got through some challenges by talking to teammates and family and friends was really interesting and helpful to the whole group."
Find out more about West Ham United and the University of East London.