WALLACE AND JONES JOIN PCA PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT TEAM Mark Wallace, the former Glamorgan wicketkeeper and captain, and Tom Jones have joined the Professional Cricketers’ Association’s team of Personal Development and Welfare Managers. Wallace, who today announced his retirement from first-class cricket after an 18-year career with the Welsh county, will still be involved with Glamorgan. His new role will involve helping his former team mates, as well as players at Gloucestershire and Somerset, to help improve their performance on the field through minimising potential distractions off it and also to assist them in preparing them for a life after cricket. Wallace takes over the role of his former Glamorgan colleague Ian Thomas who was recently appointed the PCA’s Head of Development and Welfare.. Jones, who joins the PCA from Virtual Learning UK, where he was a regional curriculum leader, will have responsibility for the Personal Development and Welfare of the players of Essex, Kent and Surrey. He succeeds Dave Townsend who has taken up a post with Canterbury Bulldogs rugby league club in Sydney. Wallace graduated with a 2:1 in Professional Sports Writing and Broadcasting from Staffordshire University and a distinction in an MA in Sport, Culture and Society at Cardiff Met University while he was also playing for Glamorgan. Wallace was elected PCA Chairman in 2013 and will step down after serving two terms of office at the AGM on February 21. He had been preparing for a 19th season in county cricket but considered the PCA role as an opportunity that was too good to miss. ” I will be going back into Glamorgan in a different role and that will probably feel strange because nothing replaces playing. I’ve had my last day’s training and now I’m an ex-cricketer, so it is an odd feeling. But I know the PCA very well. Being Chairman for four years has given me a real insight into the organisation and given me some real enthusiasm and drive to want to help players,” Wallace said. ” It’s a fantastic organisation and I want to go out and do this PDM role and help players along the way. Hopefully, my skill base is reasonably wide. I have done a lot of Personal Development throughout my career which fits in with the job that I am starting. ” My knowledge of the organisation will be helpful. I have played a lot of cricket so I can understand the issues that cricketers go through. I’ve got a pretty good academic background, I have done a few post-graduate qualifications and I have tried to get as many qualifications in the field of Personal Development. I identified that as a possible career path a few years ago. ” There are not many jobs that I would have retired playing for but this is one of them.” Jones, 35, also has an extensive CV which includes a degree in Sports Management and a Post Graduate Certificate of Education from the University of Central Lancashire and a Level Three Certificate in Assessing Vocational Achievement. He had a taste of his new job when he some freelance Personal Development and Education work with the MCC Young Cricketers in 2006 and 2007 where he delivered workshops to an intake that included current Ireland captain William Porterfield, Ireland and Derbyshire wicketkeeper Gary Wilson and all-rounder Will Gidman, who recently joined Kent from Nottinghamshire. ” I think my early experience of working with the MCC Young Cricketers gave me an insight into working with cricketers and elite sportsmen,” Jones said. ” It’s something that stuck me. It’s an area that I wanted to work in. Although I have never played at the highest level, I have played and coached at club level and it has always been my passion. So I have forged a teaching career to tie in with a cricket environment.” {{ak_sharing}}
