Sheffield Hallam PhD Student launched World-Leading Coach Education Platform

Award-winning entrepreneur and former Ambassador for Entrepreneurship in the UK, Gerard Jones has launched a digital coach education platform ULearnbly.com which offers online sports coaching courses, mentoring services and exclusive insight interviews to sports coaches across all levels around the world.

Gerard, a former Director of Coaching at Arsenal Soccer Schools in Yorkshire, previously founded Gerard School of Football Ltd which he grew into becoming listed among the Top 100 Best Business Startups in the UK, securing sponsorship from multi-billion pound organisation British Land Plc and winning a host of awards, is now running ULearnbly Limited which has already grown significantly and attracted support from the likes of Cambridge University and NatWest Bank.

Since founding ULearnbly in October 2021, Gerard has secured grant funding to build and launch his world-leading digital coach education platform which is accessible on all devices and both the Google Play and Apple Stores.

Gerard and ULearnbly have since been inducted into both the prestigious NatWest Entrepreneur Accelerator programme and Cambridge University’s Impulse 2022 Programme for High Tech Innovation.

The NatWest Accelerator programme is a six-month programme for entrepreneurs with high growth businesses that are looking to scale.

Equally impressive is the fact that ULearnbly and Gerard have been recognized by Cambridge University, one of the most prestigious universities in the world through their Impulse Programme, a 12-week training programme created to nurture the brightest minds from international academia, business and research with the objective being to fast-track game-changing innovation to commercial success in the Tech Industry. Alumni from the Impulse programme have already raised £101 million of funding and their ventures support nearly 400 new jobs.

Gerard, who is a Future 100 Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award winner in 2010 describes his latest venture: “I am excited for the future as ULEARNBLY is charged with digitally innovating how coaches learn and elevate their coaching standards through online courses, mentoring and more. We are already working with around 300 coaches world-wide and continuing to grow our user base and also work with various professional soccer clubs”

Gerard brings a wealth of experience to the coaching industry, having served as an Elite Coach Educator with the Royal Moroccan Football Federation under former Technical Director and current Crystal Palace Assistant Manager Osian Roberts, he has also been an Academy Coach at Rochdale, Head of Coaching at Bristol Rovers, mentored coaches through UEFA, USSF, CAF and AFC Licences and worked as a Director of Coaching at various levels around the world. He holds a UEFA A Licence, is a Qualified Teacher and is currently studying a PhD in Skill Acquisition at Sheffield Hallam University.