He wasn’t long out of university, but Gareth Simpson nevertheless brought an appreciable amount of coaching experience to Premier Sport when he bought it in June 2003.
As a recent sports science graduate his business skills were less developed, but with a franchisor there to provide administrative, marketing, and managerial guidance, the 28-year-old has been able to establish and grow his business.
Adam Bannister: Gareth, where did you get your coaching experience before joining Premier Sport?
Gareth Simpson: When I came back from university holidays I’d coach for Cambridge City, and while I was at uni I was coaching for Brentford. When I graduated I was playing semi-pro for Cambridge City, where we had the first full-time, non-league football coaching scheme. I took the schools from that over to Premier Sport.
You get a lot more support, a lot more for your money
AB: How did you come across the Premier Sport franchise?
GS: David Batch [founder and managing director of Premier Sport] knew me from Cambridge City; he was my manager for a bit. Premier Sport was really big in Hertfordshire and Norfolk, so coming from Cambridgeshire, I had the middle area. I didn’t actually have to pay for the franchise because I brought 30 schools with me.
It’s come on a lot since then. You get a lot more support, a lot more for your money. When I came over it was only about a grand for the franchise [it’s now £4k]. We were called Premier Soccer — we only did football when I first came over. I’ve sort of grown with it since then.
AB: Which sports do you coach now?
GS: Basketball, athletics, cricket, tag rugby, orienteering… basically everything on the curriculum.
AB: With a background in football, it must have been a challenge to suddenly have to teach a plethora of different sports…
GS: Well the company is quite good. Originally we were all footie lads. But we saw a niche in the market where we could get paid for taking PE lessons, so our company put on level one courses for everyone in all those different sports.
AB:Has the franchise lived up to expectations?
GS:Yes, it’s really good. The community scheme I had been working on was something the football club did on the side. At Premier Sport we’re more geared towards the coaching because there’s more support.
It’s just got better and better every year. Within our first year we were sponsored by Umbro, and a year later we went to multi-sports. The business really grew. Since we went on the stock market, more and more people have been hearing of the company. Hopefully it’ll get to a point where everyone has heard of us.
AB: Do schools account for most of your business?
GS: Yes. We run lunchtime and after-school clubs and do PE cover as well. Then in the holidays we run camps.
