One of the UK’s leading multi-specialist recruitment agencies, Acorn, and the Football Association of Wales (FAW) Trust are celebrating following the successful launch of CEO Kick-about, a unique charity football event attended by business leaders from across Wales.
The Welsh headquartered agency, one of the top 1% of leading agencies in the UK, invited nearly 40 company directors and CEOs to the FAW’s National Football Development Centre at Dragon Park, Newport on Friday 6th May to participate in Wales’ first CEO Kick-about event.
Guests included a number of Welsh business leaders from well-known companies such as TWL, Capital Networks, Kilsby & Williams, Harding Evans, Bemaco, ISG, Orchard Media, Eiger Trading Advisors, Wolfberry and Acorn among others, who commenced the day meeting with the Welsh National Team Manager Chris Coleman and his Euro-bound coaching team.
Chris Coleman gave a long talk about the road to the Euros with the successful Wales side and provided detailed insight into the different coaching and leadership techniques used to help get the team in the best shape for the qualifying campaign.
The group of company directors was then divided into two teams, with everyone being presented their own Welsh strip for a full-blown 90-minute game of football, each side under the supervision of Osian Roberts and Carl Darlington, Chris Coleman’s senior coaches.
One of the key surprises of the day was Ian Rush, FAW Elite Performance Director, and Welsh and Liverpool football legend, who in addition to running a charity penalty shoot-out, also joined the players on the field, making for a truly memorable experience for everyone involved.
After a gruelling game of football, in what was one of the hottest days of the year so far, everyone welcomed the opportunity to use the ice baths at the training grounds before heading back to the conference room for the post-game video analysis with national coaches Osian and Carl.
The event finished with the presentation of the CEO Kick-about ‘Man of the Match’ award to Mark Loosemore, Managing Partner of Loosemores, and the ‘Penalty King’ award to Joe Southall, a specialist legal recruiter with Acorn.
Laura Nicholas, Director of Acorn’s Executive Search Division, said: “Wales’ first CEO Kick-about event proved to be a great success. The feedback we’ve had from those who participated has been fantastic and we’re looking forward to planning our next event.
“It’s been a great privilege to work with the FAW on such an innovative event, and the support provided by Chris, Ian, Osian and Carl has been amazing. What we learnt from their professionalism, commitment and insight demonstrates fully how important it is to raise awareness of the FAW Trust, and the engagement and development work it does in communities right across Wales.
“We at Acorn pride ourselves on the contribution we make in the local communities where we conduct our business, and so we are thrilled that we have helped the FAW Trust with raising awareness of their activities and together with all those who participated, we’ve generated some additional funds towards their ongoing efforts.”
Chief Executive of the FAW Trust, Neil Ward said: “Grassroots football makes such a vital contribution to local communities and I’m absolutely delighted that through Acorn, and as a result of Wales’ first CEO Kick-about, we’ve generated some additional funds to support our work.
“The funds raised will provide us with the opportunity to continue investing in development work, where it will be earmarked for football development, coach education and to encourage more people, both male and female, to play football.
“This event also gave us the chance to showcase how fantastic Wales’ national training facility is, for use by both sporting and non-sporting organisations, and I’m looking forward to seeing how our CEO Kick-about initiative with Acorn Executive Search continues to grow over time.”