Revolutionising athlete support
Entrepreneurial sports student Joe Fuggle has created a ground-breaking online platform that supports athletes and their parents with wellbeing and mental health.
Our sports-related degrees open doors for students globally and provide the skillset required to transform the future of sport. In addition to benefiting from our world-leading academic expertise and sporting facilities, students at Loughborough have access to explore their entrepreneurialism at The Studio – our award-winning business incubator, where they can receive free workspace, up to £7,500 in funding, training and more.
Joe, who joined Loughborough as a student on the Sport with a Foundation Year for Elite Athletes programme, is currently based in The Studio having been inspired to apply the knowledge learnt on his degree into an innovative new athlete support system – an experience which he says has been game-changing.
As a former GB 400m huddler, Joe faced struggles with his mental health, leading him to quit the sport despite achieving a personal best in his last competition. Attributing his poor wellbeing to a lack of support around him, Joe created theathleteplace – with help from Loughborough University’s Enterprise Network – as an online platform providing guidance and information for track and field athletes and their parents.
Joe hopes that theathleteplace and its partner website theparenthub – the UK’s first and only platform dedicated to parents in athletics – will be the leaders in parental support. Through his learning at Loughborough, and with business support from The Studio, Joe is making a significant change for the better across the sport.
The support and influence parents have on their children are unrivalled, so it’s vital they get support too. As with athletes, parents sharing their own experiences and offering advice to others made their involvement easier, a lot more fun, and less stressful.
Improving the mental health of athletes globally
With the support from academic staff and Loughborough’s business incubator, student businesses have the potential to reach recognition on a global stage and attract praise and encouragement from leading professionals within the student’s business area.
Joe has already made some incredible achievements and continues to go from strength-to-strength, working alongside Olympians, various partners, and national governing bodies (NGBs). Chris Jones, CEO of England Athletics, is one of those to have been impressed. He explained:
I was particularly enamoured and drawn to the innovation of the platform. I have three teenage children, two of whom are involved in sport at a community level, and they will no doubt face similar challenges. We have a responsibility to create an environment, culture and safe space for people to flourish and be their best.
Award-winning business support
The Studio has been offering business support to award-winning companies and social enterprises since 2011. Joe states that with the range of support and mentorship available, as well as the funding, networking and office space, students have the ideal opportunity to succeed in their business endeavours.
The Loughborough University Enterprise Network is the perfect starting point for students with an idea or passion. The support has been genuinely astonishing, from recognising my initial idea to helping me develop it into an exciting new business.
With the University’s support I am making real progress alongside the finest graduate businesses Loughborough has to offer; being around like-minded entrepreneurs who are not only talented but supportive is an incredible experience.
The various support from the team has truly got us to where we are today. The sky is the limit for us and the sport of athletics.
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