James Ryder – Sport and Fitness Alumni

Name: James Ryder - Sport and Fitness Alumni

Course Name: Sport and Fitness

Course Type: Sport and Fitness

Image Caption: James Ryder – Sport and Fitness Alumni wearing football gear

James’ passion for football took him from a sport course at NWSLC to co-ordinating and delivering operations at ‘The Hub’ for the senior men’s Euro 2020 tournament. Opponents in other groups were observed and analysed ahead of the knockout stages helping the coaching team to prepare for each match. James supplied insights for knockout games against Germany, Ukraine, Denmark and eventually Italy in final of Euro 2020 at Wembley.

James said, “Working flat out at St. Georges Park for a month, it was only when we left to travel to Wembley that I appreciated the extent of support across the country and I was enormously proud to have played a part, however small, in helping the team on their highly successful journey.”

James is now preparing to perform a similar role coordinating opposition analysis for the 2022 Men’s FIFA World Cup in Qatar.

James’ ambitions started at a young age when he was asked to write down the job he most wanted at the age of 14 and seal it in an envelope. He remembers clearly that his dream would be to become a premiership football club manager.

James, from Weddington, had always been a soccer enthusiast and left school to join the college’s sport course at its Nuneaton Campus to see if he could follow his ambition to work in football. He went on to study for a degree in sport and exercise science at Nottingham Trent University and was the youngest person at the time to achieve his UEFA B Licence in coaching football.

After graduating, James joined premiership team West Bromwich Albion FC as an intern and with hard work and dedication worked his way up to becoming head of analysis for the team. From there, James moved on to join the FA and is now based at St George’s Park as senior men’s performance analyst working with the u21 squad. The team has qualified for the 2023 u21 European Championships due to be played in Georgia and Romania next year.

James has worked with talented players including Phil Foden, Mason Mount, Marc Guehi, Jude Bellingham, Conor Gallagher, Emile Smith-Rowe, Morgan Gibbs-White and Lloyd Kelly who have all helped the u21s during recent campaigns.

James said, “I had always loved football and started out playing for Nuneaton Griff FC. One day when I was working with West Brom, I found myself in the 60,000-seat Emirates stadium at an Arsenal match and I remember that I had to pinch myself when I realised that this was my place of work.

“The college sport course opened my eyes to the types of careers that are available and gave me a really good foundation in the skills and disciplines that I would need to get on. I learned about playing, coaching, the business aspects of sport, the IT skills I would need, and how to make presentations which I do a lot now in my job working with the England u21 team.”

James added, “Going to college was great for me because it gave me the building blocks I needed to succeed and helped me to take the first steps into a rewarding career that I love.”