Not satisfied with building a successful tennis coaching business across Hampshire and Surrey, Josh Gook, 29, felt he had more to offer to keep children in his local area active and engaged with sport.

Thanks to his passion and experience, he was motivated to accelerate the impact he could have on the health and wellbeing of young people in his region so looked at ways to expand his business.

Josh comments: “Sport has given me everything, so I wanted to give children the same opportunity”.

Josh set up a meeting with Premier Education, the leading provider of specialist sports coaching, curricular PE and activity sessions in the UK, which would enable him to scale up his business by offering over 40 different sports and activities to primary schools.

Inspired and driven by the opportunity, Josh became the franchisee responsible for the Farnham and Eastleigh territories in Surrey and Hampshire. He’s not only excited by the challenge but takes his role seriously in motivating and engaging the next generation in sport.

Josh comments: “Sport is in my genes! From being inspired by my tennis-loving family and learning to play age four, to becoming a tennis coach at our local club at 16, I’ve enjoyed a long and happy relationship with sport.

“As well as completing my Level 3 coaching course and becoming Head Coach at my local tennis club, my coaching offering grew organically to the point where I was overseeing seven tennis clubs. I’d also started working in schools to deliver tennis to pupils as part of their PE and extra-curricular programmes. I love coaching tennis, but I wanted to have a larger, wider impact.

“I had a little insight into working with schools and, although I didn’t need to join a franchise to make a success of my business, I could see how the experience, shared learnings and structure could help me fast-track growth.

“I’m ambitious, and I knew that franchising could help me get to where I want to be. There are several organisations offering a similar thing, but Premier Education stood out. There were so many things that aligned perfectly, particularly the company values and the mission. I simply knew I had to go for it!”

Several independent activity providers have recently joined the Premier Education network, assured by the experience of others who have used the same route to impact more children and more schools in their areas.

“Every business that has joined our network have at least doubled their original business size, with some going way beyond that’, said Karl Fox, Head of Franchise Support at Premier. ‘All providers have the will to provide more impact and our support helps them to do that. Quite simply, we have the tools which help them execute that desire”.

Every day, Premier Education’s regional teams set out to inspire children to be physically active through a host of carefully designed activities, all held in primary schools and community venues – located in towns, cities, and rural villages throughout England.

Supporting each regional team, is an organised management structure, headed up by the local Franchise Director. Whether they spend their day delivering sector-leading provision, or focusing on the growth of their business, each team member is bound by the same promise: making kids happy, healthy, and active.

David Batch, chief executive of Premier Education, is thrilled to welcome Josh to the network: “We can’t wait to work with Josh and know he will make a great impact on the lives and lifestyles of primary-age children across his territory. Fuelled with his expertise and determination to widen the net of sporting opportunities available to young people, Josh will inevitably inspire more young people to form a lifelong love of physical activity.”

What most excites you about this opportunity?

Premier Education are delighted to welcome Josh into the network. We can’t wait to see what he and his team in Fareham and Eastleigh get up to in the weeks and months ahead.

To find out more about how Josh joined the Premier Education network, or start your own Premier Education franchise journey, please get in touch.