Gloucestershire Women head coach Fran Wilson shares how she unlocked PCA education funding to support her post-playing career.
Former England international Fran Wilson has spoken to Beyond the Boundaries about how she has unlocked the PCA’s education funding benefits to support her post-playing career.
The brand-new monthly feature, ‘Your Benefits Unlocked’, will spotlight the services available for current and former players to utilise. Capped 64 times by her country, the 34-year-old discusses the process of taking advantage of the support available and how it has allowed a seamless transition into several coaching roles.
PCA members can claim 50 per cent of personal development course costs, up to a maximum of £2,000 per year with all claims completed by the member on a simple form on the PCA website which sits alongside the Education Funding Policy.
In 2025 alone, the PCA processed 150 successful claims from members, totalling over £116,000 between educational and ECB coaching courses.
A multiple claimant over the years, Wilson encourages all members to actively invest in themselves and explore new paths through the easy-to-access personal development funding and discusses the opportunities ahead for young coaches.
”I filled out the education funding form a week ago for my ECB Level Four Specialist Coach programme and it only took me 10 minutes to do. It's going to save me a lot of money
Fran WilsonGloucestershire Women Head Coach
Q&A’s
How would you describe your approach to education and learning?
Wilson: “I enjoyed education when I went to university. The freedom really suited me, being able to do what I wanted and explore the different things that I wanted to do. Ever since, I really enjoyed learning and education. I enjoy throwing myself into coaching now and there are so many elements to learn.”
How has the PCA's support guided you with your career decisions?
Wilson: “It’s been really useful to know that money is not necessarily a barrier to being able to get a qualification or to throw yourself into learning something new. It’s really reassuring to know that we’ve got that access through the PCA. The PCA is helping me fund my coaching qualifications and also throughout my whole career I’ve accessed funding several times just on courses that I’ve been interested in to supplement my coaching now as well. Especially for young players coming into the game, I think it’s a really valuable way to top up your income, through investing in yourself.”
How did you find the process of accessing the education funding and working with your Personal Development Managers (PDM)?
Wilson: “I’ve always had a good relationship with my PDMs. We’d always bounce ideas off each other, but I always knew deep down what was going to be valuable to my future and what wasn’t. I think I’m quite lucky in that I’ve always had quite a good steer on where I’ve wanted to go and what I enjoy.
“I filled out the education funding form a week ago for my ECB Level Four Specialist Coach programme and it only took me 10 minutes to do. It’s going to save me a lot of money and I’ve used it multiple times over for my long career.”
What about those players who are unsure what their future holds, is there value in simply being curious?
Wilson: “I think the mistake people can make is thinking they need to know exactly what they want to do from day dot. Although I’ve always loved coaching, I went through times where I thought I wanted to potentially try something else. I think what’s really important is understanding the general concepts that you really enjoy and then being really broad with the education that you choose to do. I did a three-day therapy introductory course – I’m not going to be a therapist, but it’s really helped me in my coaching now because I have an understanding of certain thought processes people would go through.
“You don’t necessarily have to know the exact end goal, but if you have a general idea of what you’re passionate about and interested in, just keep following those signs. As long as it’s a good, reputable course and something you’re interested in, you can’t really go wrong.”
How has the transition been since you retired from playing?
Wilson: “It’s been very, very busy. Since I retired from the game, it’s not stopped. I’ve loved it, it’s been amazing, and I’ve really enjoyed all the roles I’ve been doing. I’m the Gloucestershire Women’s head coach, worked with the England 19s as lead fielding coach, and now with Birmingham Phoenix as the fielding coach. All of those roles I’ve loved and they’ve been really valuable. I’m definitely looking forward to a few weeks off in October, I’m not going to lie. It’s been a great year, very full-on, but I guess it’s the time to throw yourself into things when you’ve just finished because you’ve got the energy for trying lots of new things.”
With a lot of discussion around the lack of female coaches in the game, is this an exciting time for you and other aspiring women's coaches?
Wilson: “It’s obviously really exciting for there to be lots of opportunities for female coaches. It’s really important we have a diverse coaching group across the whole game and we have many outstanding male coaches in the game too.
“I’m very, very passionate about the fact that I never want to be in a room unless I earn it and it’s not just because I’m a woman. That’s something that’s always on my radar and making sure that what I do is always really, really good. It’s a very exciting time for female coaches and I just encourage people to give it a go and work out what parts of that coaching really excite you.”
To view the PCA Education Funding Policy, submit a claim or find out further information, click here.
