Imagine your work experience involving a near-24-hour flight across the globe – that’s the case for aspiring coach, Curtis Purssell, thanks to an innovative new partnership.
The Aussie travelled from Newcastle in Australia to Salford in early January to begin a placement with the Salford Red Devils Foundation.
During his month-long stay, Curtis has been busy delivering programmes in the local community, as well as coaching the Elite Academy, and Development Academy throughout their training sessions.
This has all been put in place by the Club in collaboration with the Australian College of Physical Education.
ACPE is a higher education provider specialising in degrees in Sport, Health, and Dance. Based on the Sydney Olympic Park, ACPE prides itself on integrating its degrees with industry to support the career development and employability of its students.
The Bachelor of Football (Development, Management and Performance) is a three-year undergraduate degree that explores a range of football codes to examine how these global sports deliver exemplary practice in contexts such as coaching, community participation, management, leadership, sport science, and high-performance.
Over recent years, we have created several partnerships which have allowed us to raise the profile of the Club internationally, whilst learning from other organisations.
They have included international partnerships with Rugby League Federation of Ghana and Wales RL, as well as club partnerships with Florida Copperheads, Ponsonby United, and Red Star Belgrade.
On his time working with the Foundation, Curtis said: “The work the Foundation do is absolutely amazing. I’ve got a smile on my face; I’m going to go home with a smile on my face – mainly because you see the smiles on the faces of the students and just the community.
“The passion you see just through them alone is second to none, and I’m very, very grateful that I had the opportunity to come all this way to do this.”
Paul Trainor, Director of Foundation and Rugby Partnerships at Salford Red Devils, has added: “We have been delighted to welcome Curtis to Salford Red Devils for his placement with the Club and Foundation.
“He has fully immersed himself in the community work of the Foundation as well as the club’s Pathway programme, making a significant contribution.
“As a Club and Foundation, we are outward facing, having developed a number of high-quality partnerships in the past three years.
“They provide us with the opportunity to learn from other organisations, whilst also raising the profile of the Salford Red Devils brand. We look forward to continuing our relationship with the Australian College of Physical Education in the future.”
Gareth Long, Director of Program Innovation and Development at Australian College of Physical Education, also said: “Curtis is a student at The Australian College of Physical Education (ACPE) in Sydney, studying a Bachelor of Football (Development, Management and Performance), the only degree of its kind in Australia.
“Of course, ‘Footy’ in Australia can mean a variety of football codes, but it is Curtis’ passion for Rugby League that has led him to complete an Industry Placement at Salford Red Devils.
“Thanks to the relationship between ACPE and Salford Red Devils, Curtis was selected based on his commitment to coaching Rugby League at Community Clubs, Schools, and for the NRL in New South Wales to travel to Salford to immerse himself in the club and the Salford Red Devils Foundation.
“Determined to take up the opportunity, Curtis also brought his young family from down under.”
