So many wonderful memories – By Luke Chadwick

The last four and a half years have absolutely flown by here at the FFF, I can’t quite believe how far we’ve moved forward in that time. It has certainly been an exciting start to our journey and like every journey memories have been made along the way so I thought in today’s blog I would detail some of the most special ones so far!

The first memory comes from when I became a Head Coach and launched my very own Football Fun Factory franchise, it was such an exciting time and I was so happy and proud to be doing something for myself. I of course had a few nerves as well but just knew deep down it was the right opportunity for me. My first Football Fun and Development session took place at Melbourn Village College, the school I attended as a child and was on the very same Astro pitch that I had spent so many hours on many years earlier honing my own football skills! It felt so special delivering a football session and giving something back to the local community that had done so much for me.

The next was also from a time of being a Head Coach and it was running my Tots sessions, this was something that I was so scared of before delivering my first one, but I ended up absolutely loving it. There is something very special about being a child’s first football coach and also a massive responsibility, it’s an opportunity to give a child a positive experience so they want to keep coming back which in turn can develop into a lifelong affinity to the game. I still remember my very first experiences playing football with my first grassroots team and it’s without doubt why I still love the game so much to this very day!

I had a real pinch me moment a couple of years into our journey when for the first time I saw our programmes up and running at Center Parcs while on a family break there! For the past few years we have had a fantastic partnership with Center Parcs which has seen our programmes run at the villages on a daily basis, this has been a fantastic partnership for both parties which has enabled us to continue to grow our brand footprint and has seen Center Parcs football participation go through the roof. Seeing so many young children enjoying our programmes was something I will never forget especially at such an iconic British holiday park.

Now I’m on a bit of a roll and could go on and on with these incredible memories but I don’t want to keep you too long so will share just one more with you. And this one was from only a couple of weeks ago when we made the huge announcement we will be launching in Australia with superstar Head Coach Jay! From the very outset of our journey we have had a hugely bold and brave ambition to become the world’s leading football coaching organisation, and although we still have a long, long way to go to get there, operating on the other side of the world took us a step closer!

One day I hope to write a blog about us operating in countries all over the world and millions of children falling in love with the beautiful game through our programmes and experiences. And the only limiting factor to us achieving this is finding the right individuals to deliver the sessions, we truly believe if we can keep finding these people, with the unique programmes that we offer there is no limit to what can be achieved in having a positive impact on children’s early experiences in the game.