Mark Wallace, the former Glamorgan wicketkeeper and captain, has been appointed to join 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.
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 in Birmingham 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.
“There’s a lot of sadness at retiring from playing. I grew up wanting to play cricket for Glamorgan and I have fulfilled that dream so, to walk away from it, feels pretty weird. But the sadness is tempered with the excitement of going into a job that I am really looking forward to.”
Wallace is also an ECB Level Three coach, has a Level Three qualification in Talented Athlete Lifestyle Support and worked with elite level gymnasts at the Welsh Institute of Sports in 2015.
Tom Jones has been appointed in a similar role, 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.
“We are delighted to have recruited both Tom and Mark into our two vacant PDM’s roles,” said Thomas. “They will have a lot to offer the members in their region, and will bring diverse experiences to the PCA Personal Development and Welfare team. We were delighted with the interest and standard of applications we received for both roles, and we are sure Tom and Mark will help us grow the programme further moving forward.”
To find out more about the PCA’s Personal Development & Welfare Programme visit thepca.co.uk