Asaif Ali

Please tell us about your current role & employer 

I’m a coach at the West Bromwich Albion Foundation, working with young people from the ages of 8 to 18. The Foundation focuses on community engagement, and we run a range of different football related programmes like the Premier League Kicks Club. For the premier league kicks programme, we are taking a squad of our under 16s participants to compete in a national tournament at St. George’s Park in the summer. We recently held an open iftar event in our stadium to celebrate Ramadan. I also coach for the Academy, working with the foundation phase teams. 

What does a typical day in your current role look like? 

I’m currently working part time while I study for my master’s degree in Sports Performance Analysis. I study in the morning and coach in the afternoon. My work as a coach varies. At the Foundation, most children haven’t played a lot of football, so I aim to develop their techniques and turn them into more skilful players. At the Academy, I usually coach and mentor the goalkeepers, giving them more individual, one-to-one support. I used to train as a goalkeeper myself, so I use those skills I developed to support others now.  

What was the journey to getting a job after graduating from Birmingham? 

In my second year at University, the programme lead for the Sports, PE and Coaching Science degree shared an email from WBA FC Foundation asking for volunteers. I started volunteering with the Foundation in my second year at University and that slowly built up. I also had some contacts at the Academy after I’d trained there, and I was asked to come back and support some of the sessions.  

How do you feel the learning experience on your course helped to prepare you for your career?  

The practical elements of my degree have really helped my coaching skills. In one of my modules, I had to teach primary school children how to swim, despite not being a confident swimmer myself! It taught me to plan for any possibility and think about how you can adapt your teaching to different learning levels. I’ve taken those skills to my football coaching.  

How did the University’s support service (i.e., Careers Network) help to prepare you for your career? 

In my second year I had some contact with the Careers Network – one or two meetings. However, the majority of the conversations about my career came from the academics I studied with as they had good networks with sports teams across Birmingham. In my final year Civic Engagement module we had guest speakers come to campus and talk about their work in different industries. We even had someone join from FIFA.  

What are your top tips for students graduating today?  

If any opportunity comes up, even if it’s outside of your comfort zone then take it! You don’t know what opportunities it might lead to.  

What was the best thing about your course?  

The lecturers were really supportive – they were there to help if you needed anything. My course was also small and there were only thirty students. It meant everyone got to know and support each other really well.  

What was your biggest achievement during your course (personal, professional or academic)? 

I started studying during Covid and that was difficult however, I kept going despite knowing a lot of people who dropped out and, not interacting much with the other students.  

Completing my dissertation was also a big achievement. I chose to do a project based on my civic engagement module rather than a long essay and instead made a video and a poster explaining all my findings. I based my project on the University Hockey club, and it was great working with the coach– he supported my research, and I felt like my work was really benefiting the development of the team. My dissertation was a big influence on my decision to apply for my master’s degree.