A walk down memory lane – By Luke Chadwick

A walk down memory lane

Today we host our first onboarding day of the year where we have a group of brand-new superstar Head Coaches attending what will be a fantastic day of learning and collaboration. This has got me feeling a little sentimental and reminiscing when I became a Head Coach in 2019, taking my first tentative steps into business ownership and how the feelings I had back then must have been very similar to most of our new recruits joining us today.

Don’t get me wrong it was a very different business back then as we were a team of four, myself, James, Jonny, and Kiel. Since those early days we have done a fair bit of growing that’s for sure and today we have a team of over 100 Head Coaches not forgetting a Head Office team with ten more superstars working full time both growing the business and supporting our franchise network! Quite a contrast from the early days but what I’m most proud about is that the ethos and values of the business have never changed, to give children the opportunity to play the game in a fun, pressure-free, inclusive environment.

Coming onboard as a franchisee was a decision I didn’t take lightly, I was really nervous and a little worried if I had the capability of running my own franchise. I had spent my entire working life in an employed role and was used to being told what to do and where and what time I needed to be. But what excited me the most about joining the FFF was I was taking control of my own destiny! It was my franchise. I was accountable and the harder I worked the more rewards I would see both in having a positive impact on my local community and financial gain in my business. When I look back now it was without doubt the best decision I ever made.

I remember going through my business planning securing the venues I would deliver my programmes doing everything the Head Coaches do now before launching but in a very different way. It was a million miles away from the systems, processes, and support we offer today but I always had James, Jonny, and Kiel by my side as we launched our programmes full of enthusiasm, excitement, and loads of nerves. I’ll never forget my session delivered with Jonny at Melbourn Village College, the school I used to attend on the same old sand-based astro I used to be taught PE lessons and remember the buzz I got from it, coaching children in my local community not just football but using the sport as a vehicle to develop positive life skills. I loved it!

Days like today really make me take stock of how far we’ve come over the past six years, as I look at these new superstars going through delivery training, social media training, and working with our very own content team to create content to use promoting their programmes, as we endeavour to support launch, grow, and develop a flourishing Football Fun Factory franchise and not only does it make me feel very proud, it also makes me feel so excited that we are still so early in our journey and have only just gotten started!