Premier League Inspires Challenge 2024

Last Wednesday, four teams of high school students from both Pakefield and Wymondham High School arrived at Carrow Road to take on the Premier League Inspires challenge.

This year’s event required the pupils to pitch a mental health/wellbeing themed incentive to a panel of judges, with the idea being that the most impressive proposition could be adopted into the football club’s very own mental health awareness campaigns in the future.

The judges were Asa Saunders; Head of Schools at the Foundation, as well as Dan Williams and Dan Wynne, who work for the football clubs Marketing department and Communications department respectively.

Similar to the famous TV show; Dragon’s Den, the four hopeful teams took their turns to stand in front of the judges, delivering their ideas on how they would structure a mental health campaign in a footballing/sport environment. There were some fantastic ideas on display, including but not limited to mental health awareness t-shirts, promotional videos, physical exercise schemes and easily accessible suicide hotlines.

It was a difficult decision for the ‘dragons’, but in the end it was one of the Pakefield High School teams who emerged victorious for their ‘Train Your Brain’ awareness scheme which brilliantly collaborated sports and mental wellbeing as a way of dealing with everyday stresses and worries. The group of young ‘entrepreneurs’ were quick to find the link between healthy living and a healthy mind and presented a clearly structured and well thought through pitch to the judges.

The winning team will now represent the football club and present their pitch at the Emirates Stadium in London later this year.

Premier League Inspires Officer, Aoife Linehan, was full of praise for all four groups and the hard work that had been put into their campaigns:

“The event was great! It was a fantastic opportunity for the students to showcase their ideas that they have been working on recently in our weekly workshops. It’s amazing to see their progression and how much their confidence has grown since the start of the programme.”

All four teams of students were rewarded with a personalised video from Norwich City first-teamer Gabriel Sara, who offered his congratulations to everyone involved. This was followed by a full stadium tour of Carrow Road, an experience that was thoroughly enjoyed by all.