Roach’s role as ‘a mum from afar’

As head of Academy education and player care, Dawn leads the education course for the younger players at the club, working to achieve qualifications to aid their careers whether they make it as footballers or not.

The second key part of Dawn’s role is to offer vital support to the players as they move to Bournemouth, often leaving home for the first time at 16, and providing care and assistance while they grow as people and as footballers.

To mark Mother’s Day, Dawn spoke with afcb.co.uk about her essential position at the club.

She began: “In the first two months players miss home so from the start I make them aware that it’s never going to be what they get at home but it is the start of their journey of growing up and becoming an adult.

“The difference at the start and end of the first six months of them coming into our environment is massive. We talk a lot and I’ve had boys sitting in my office crying because they don’t want to do it anymore and just want to go home.

“Those are tough conversations because you empathise with them but at the same time you want to make them realise the opportunity they’ve got. I try to sympathise and let them know that I get it and I understand – I bet you’re missing your dog loads! – but we now live in a world of FaceTime, so if you have to ring them five times a day then so be it.

“You try to encourage that independence in them, we get them cooking and things like that – and the difference down the line is amazing. By the second year they usually want to stay down here and be a part of this environment rather than go home, it’s interesting to see that transformation.

“Communication is key – and I don’t wait for the boys to come to me. I know which ones are quiet and I will sit down with them every single week bar none and just ask how things are and how they’re getting on.

“My daughter says that I’m approachable and I think I am. I don’t scare people away but at the same time I’m quite honest, sometimes sarcastic, but I’m not an easy pushover. They know that if they’re not doing something right I’ll have that honest conversation with them.

“Once we’ve had that conversation we’ll move on, leave it behind and don’t hold grudges. It’s the same with my own kids!

“I’m a bit like that as a mum as well, I don’t ever dwell on negatives, I’m always someone who solves problems and I like to think I do that with the boys as well.”

As alluded to, Dawn is also a mother herself to Shelley and Peter, a stepmother to Stephen, Lyns and Cameron, and also has seven grandchildren – with one more currently on the way.

“I spoke to my daughter yesterday and asked her what kind of a mum she’d describe me as,” said Dawn. “She wanted to say all the proper things like caring and loving, she said I was all that but at the same time I’m very positive and am in a certain way.

“It can be tough for the younger players, but I try and stay positive with them, get them to look on the bright side, having conversations to keep them looking at the bigger picture rather than what’s going on now so they can get the best from the experience.”

Dawn is a former teacher who taught at Brockenhurst College for 16 years, where part of her role saw her working with the younger Bournemouth players before she moved to her role inside the club, which explains the second part of her role at the club.

She spoke about the educational work required of the Academy players and her role in facilitating it: “I oversee the education for the full-time players, which are the under-18s, then I oversee the education and keep in contact with the schools for the younger players, as well as looking after any additional education that the under-21s might want to do.

“The under-18s do an apprenticeship framework, which is all football related with what they do in and around the environment and then they do a BTEC which I oversee at Brockenhurst College, where I make sure they’re doing what they should be doing.

“Then there are the add-ons which I sort out, from their level two coaching badges, their safeguarding, first aid, laws of the game. This year they’re doing their level two gym instructors course as well.

“I make them do as much as they can so they make the most out of it!”

For the successful Academy players eventually comes integration in training with the first team and, for some, first-team debuts, with Dawn in the stands watching on when they arrive.

“It’s a proud moment,” she said. “I love watching a game when I’ve got boys on the bench and when they come on it’s very exciting.

“I still speak to parents and when that moment happens I’m straight on the texts to them: ‘Oh my God, he’s just come on!’

“The parents worry too, sometimes as much as the boys, so I have that communication with them as well, forming good relationships. I had a text five minutes ago about one of the parents, filling me in on some information.

“That works well. I’m not the players’ mum but at the same time I can speak on behalf of their parents without them realising it, I’m a mum from afar almost.

“We work as a team and we’re a good group of people.”

After graduating from the Academy the story’s not over for Dawn and her relationship with the players, as she explained: “I get random emails from our ex-players asking how I am. I won’t lie, a lot of the time they want something, some advice or my opinion.

“I always have an open door and at the same time I always wonder how they’re getting on if I’ve not heard for a while, so I’ll often drop them a line asking how it’s going and if there’s anything I can do.

“The boys still talk to me, even years down the line, and that will always be the case. I do worry inwardly sometimes, but that would never show, I’m always going to be that person that comes up with a solution and stays positive.”