{"id":3019,"date":"2023-11-16T14:33:17","date_gmt":"2023-11-16T14:33:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/alex-fletcher-former-bath-striker-takes-new-pfa-role-promoting-brain-health\/"},"modified":"2023-11-16T14:33:17","modified_gmt":"2023-11-16T14:33:17","slug":"alex-fletcher-former-bath-striker-takes-new-pfa-role-promoting-brain-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/alex-fletcher-former-bath-striker-takes-new-pfa-role-promoting-brain-health\/","title":{"rendered":"Alex Fletcher: Former Bath striker takes new PFA role promoting brain health"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-reactid=\".1ubsegt5kv0.0.0.0.1\">\n<figure class=\"gs-u-mt0 gs-u-mb-alt+ story-body__media story-body__media--figure qa-story-body-media story-body__media--lead\" data-reactid=\".1ubsegt5kv0.0.0.0.1.$image-0\"><span class=\"gs-u-display-block story-body__media\" data-reactid=\".1ubsegt5kv0.0.0.0.1.$image-0.0\"><span class=\"gs-u-display-block gs-o-responsive-image\" style=\"padding-bottom:56.25%;\" data-reactid=\".1ubsegt5kv0.0.0.0.1.$image-0.0.0\"><\/span><\/span><figcaption class=\"gel-brevier gs-u-ph+ gs-u-pv-alt story-body__media__caption story-body__media__caption--image\" data-reactid=\".1ubsegt5kv0.0.0.0.1.$image-0.1\">Alex Fletcher (right) delivered his first talk at Exeter City in his new role for the PFA&#8217;s Brain Health team<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p role=\"introduction\" class=\"qa-introduction gel-pica-bold\" data-reactid=\".1ubsegt5kv0.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-1\"><span data-reactid=\".1ubsegt5kv0.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-1.0\">Former Bath City striker Alex Fletcher has a new role with the Professional Footballers&#8217; Association talking about brain health, a year after <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/sport\/football\/63837210\" class=\"story-body__internal-link\" title=\"\" data-reactid=\".1ubsegt5kv0.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-1.$link-2\"><span data-reactid=\".1ubsegt5kv0.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-1.$link-2.0\">suffering a major head injury<\/span><\/a><span data-reactid=\".1ubsegt5kv0.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-1.3\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<div data-reactid=\".1ubsegt5kv0.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-2\">\n<p class=\"\" data-reactid=\".1ubsegt5kv0.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-2.0\"><span data-reactid=\".1ubsegt5kv0.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-2.0.0\">The 25-year-old crashed into advertising hoardings during a National League South game last November.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"\" data-reactid=\".1ubsegt5kv0.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-3\"><span data-reactid=\".1ubsegt5kv0.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-3.0\">He needed surgery, was in a coma and did not play football for 10 months.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-reactid=\".1ubsegt5kv0.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-4\"><span data-reactid=\".1ubsegt5kv0.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-4.0\">Fletcher&#8217;s new role is in the PFA&#8217;s Brain Health department and he will visit clubs to talk to players.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-reactid=\".1ubsegt5kv0.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-5\"><span data-reactid=\".1ubsegt5kv0.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-5.0\">&#8220;The understanding of the relationship between brain health and playing football continues to grow, and that&#8217;s what I&#8217;ll be speaking to players about, sharing information and helping them build their personal understanding of this as an issue,&#8221; Fletcher said. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-reactid=\".1ubsegt5kv0.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-6\"><span data-reactid=\".1ubsegt5kv0.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-6.0\">&#8220;From my own experience as a player, I know it always helps when the person who is speaking is someone who has experienced the same things and who has that understanding of the issues you face as a footballer. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-reactid=\".1ubsegt5kv0.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-7\"><span data-reactid=\".1ubsegt5kv0.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-7.0\">&#8220;Obviously, I&#8217;m able to talk to players about what happened to me and how that sort of life-changing incident gave me a different perspective on my own brain health. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-reactid=\".1ubsegt5kv0.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-8\"><span data-reactid=\".1ubsegt5kv0.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-8.0\">&#8220;I know that, as a young and healthy person, it&#8217;s not something people necessarily think about as potentially impacting them. I hope that these conversations will help other players begin to think about their own long-term health and wellbeing.&#8221; <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-reactid=\".1ubsegt5kv0.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-10\"><span data-reactid=\".1ubsegt5kv0.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-10.0\">Fletcher returned to Bath City in August and made one appearance from the bench later that month as the 2023-24 season began. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-reactid=\".1ubsegt5kv0.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-11\"><span data-reactid=\".1ubsegt5kv0.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-11.0\">Last week, he announced he was joining fellow sixth-tier club Weston-super-Mare AFC for the rest of the campaign.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure class=\"gs-u-mt0 gs-u-mb-alt+ story-body__media story-body__media--figure qa-story-body-media\" data-reactid=\".1ubsegt5kv0.0.0.0.1.$video-13\"><span class=\"gs-u-display-block story-body__media\" data-reactid=\".1ubsegt5kv0.0.0.0.1.$video-13.0\"><span class=\"gs-u-display-block gs-o-responsive-image\" style=\"padding-bottom:56.25%;\" data-reactid=\".1ubsegt5kv0.0.0.0.1.$video-13.0.0\"><noscript data-reactid=\".1ubsegt5kv0.0.0.0.1.$video-13.0.0.1\"\/><\/span><\/span><figcaption class=\"gel-brevier gs-u-ph+ gs-u-pv-alt story-body__media__caption story-body__media__caption--video\" data-reactid=\".1ubsegt5kv0.0.0.0.1.$video-13.1\">Alex Fletcher reflects on life-threatening skull injury which left him in five-day coma<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"\" data-reactid=\".1ubsegt5kv0.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-14\"><span data-reactid=\".1ubsegt5kv0.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-14.0\">Fletcher made his first club visit in his new role this week, to League One side Exeter City.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-reactid=\".1ubsegt5kv0.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-15\"><span data-reactid=\".1ubsegt5kv0.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-15.0\">&#8220;He is an impressive young man with a unique perspective on the importance of brain health,&#8221; said PFA chief executive Maheta Molango.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-reactid=\".1ubsegt5kv0.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-16\"><span data-reactid=\".1ubsegt5kv0.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-16.0\">&#8220;He has worked his way back from a major injury that has had a profound impact not just on his football career but also his life.  <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-reactid=\".1ubsegt5kv0.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-17\"><span data-reactid=\".1ubsegt5kv0.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-17.0\">&#8220;He is motivated to use his position within the game for good and, as a current player, he&#8217;s someone who I know our members will be able to relate to.&#8221; <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/sport\/football\/67436836?at_medium=RSS&#038;at_campaign=KARANGA\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Alex Fletcher (right) delivered his first talk at Exeter City in his new role for the PFA&#8217;s Brain Health team Former Bath City striker Alex Fletcher has a new role with the Professional Footballers&#8217; Association talking about brain health, a year after suffering a major head injury. The 25-year-old crashed into advertising hoardings during a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3020,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[2254,2256,2260,2255,2030,2258,2259,270,2257,542],"class_list":["post-3019","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-england","tag-alex","tag-bath","tag-brain","tag-fletcher","tag-health","tag-pfa","tag-promoting","tag-role","tag-striker","tag-takes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3019","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3019"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3019\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3021,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3019\/revisions\/3021"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3020"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}