The NFL’s San Francisco 49ers and the Premier League’s Chelsea FC spent two days together in London this week teaching kids about physics and engineering concepts as they pertained to sports, and now representatives from both franchises say they’re prepared to extend their partnership into the future.
Through their respective community-focused subsidiaries, the teams hosted a free clinic targeting 10- and 11-year-old children at Chelsea home stadium Stamford Bridge, where they held workshops on how science, technology, engineering, art and math (STEAM) apply to football and soccer.
Representatives from the Chelsea Foundation and the 49ers’ education consulting venture, EDU Academy, have since expressed interest in pursuing additional STEAM events together in hopes of furthering education opportunities for youth in sport and encouraging other organization to follow suit.
“This is not going to be a one-off. This has taken nine months for us to build this program and build a relationship,” said Matt Mead, Chelsea Foundation’s head of education. “The partnership will continue, and beyond that we’d love to see it grow further.”
Jesse Lovejoy, the director of the 49ers’ EDU Academy, said the hope is that their efforts encourage other teams to build similar educational programs.
What happens when you mix math and football?
We found out when we joined the San Francisco @49ersCommunity and @CFCFoundation at Chelsea Football Club for a day of football and #STEAM49ers education. pic.twitter.com/xiSEUWcNlg
— U.S. Embassy London (@USAinUK) April 26, 2018
“The 49ers are one of the biggest brands in the NFL. Chelsea is one of the biggest brands in the Premier League, if not in professional soccer in the world,” said Lovejoy. “We said, ‘Hey, what if we did something together, I think people might pay attention, and we could get a few more organizations to adopt education programs similar to what we both have.’”
Chelsea Football Club Chairman Bruce Buck said their collaboration enables the soccer club to learn about the social strategies of other teams, while increasing both sports franchises’ brand awareness outside of their core markets.
“Everyday of the week we’re doing good things in many different places, mostly around the UK. But I think it’s very interesting for us to see how another sports club handles their educational activities,” said Buck. “The fact that we’ve hooked up with the 49ers for this kind of experience I think is really good for us. And actually, we’re talking to them about maybe doing other activities with them and I think that’s just very good for Chelsea Foundation.”
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In 2016, the 49ers were the first pro sports teams to team up with online education program Khan Academy to enhance STEM educational efforts. The football team’s STEAM Education Program has fielded more than 210,000 students since its inception in 2014.
SportTechie Takeaway
Sports teams, like corporations, have been doubling down on social initiatives over the past few years as consumers have demanded from them more socially-conscious ways of doing business. The 49ers have had one of the longest streaks in youth education among professional sports, but STEAM and STEM programs now touch virtually every sport and league, from the NFL and MLB to tennis, NASCAR and indoor skydiving.
Sports bring technical concepts to life by showing kids, often through hands-on experiments in subjects they’re already interested in, how some of the complex concepts they learn about in school apply in real-world scenarios through movement, activity and equipment.
The idea is that STEAM/STEM, an important area of study for students that can benefit them in a wide-range of industries, can be more easily learned and retained when taught in fun settings using real-world examples that the students can put into practice.
Richard Childress Racing (RCR), for example, has an online STEM education program that teaches kids the mechanics of racing, car crashes, acceleration and car design by having them build contraptions with wooden blocks and rubber bands and put them through experiments. And the indoor skydiving company iFly hosts thousands of students each year, educating them on concepts of physical and mechanical engineering, which they then put into practice through mimicked free fall.