The Football Fun Factory Conference – Looking ahead to 2o24 | By Luke Chadwick

Last July we held our inaugural franchise conference, this event saw us bring together a number of our FFF Head Coaches for a day of learnings and celebration. Working within a franchise organisation means we don’t get together as a team all that often which made this day so special. It was an absolute joy catching up with so many like-minded people all with a huge passion for football coaching and child development to share experiences and learn from each other.

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The day took a heck of a lot of planning from the Head Office team as of course we wanted to make the day as beneficial and special to all of those in attendance. In fact it was over 4 months of work that went into it and it was certainly worth every second. And I don’t mind telling you we were nervous and apprehensive of how the day would go with it being our first ever one! The day started with us greeting all of our coaches and them having the opportunity to socialise with each other, the team is so big now for many it was the first time they had ever met. Seeing the Head coaches arrive and mingling gave me so much pride, reflecting on the wonderful people that are part of our team.

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In typical Football Fun Factory style, there was plenty of time for the Head Coaches to work with Oli and Adam to get fresh social media content to take away with them with photos and videos aplenty! The day took place in the beautiful setting of Woburn Forest Center Parcs and it was quite surreal that as our team was arriving there were actually FFF sessions taking place on sight with the Center Parcs staff! The day started with our inspiring co-founders James and Jonny giving some business updates and setting the scene for future developments which really built excitement for the day!

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After lunch I delivered a talk about my experience of coming out of football and how the Football Fun Factory and coming on board as a Head Coach really turned my life around. Safe to say I didn’t really eat much beforehand as the nerves started kicking in! This led into Daryl delivering a mental health workshop which was fantastic and gave the Head Coach space to interact talking openly and honestly in a supportive environment.

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It was then time for the much anticipated Blue Card Awards where we celebrated the success of a number of our Head Coaches and the incredible work they have done over the past year. And the final award of the day was the biggie, Franchisee Of The Year and the worthy winner was Jon Radford our superstar Head Coach down in Exeter who has had a quite remarkable impact on his local community. Unfortunately, Jon was unable to attend as he was in Florida on his honeymoon (a good enough excuse I suppose!!) but with no stone left unturned we did have a video played of Jonny and James presenting him with the award at Head Office!

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The day finished with group photos which really was a bit of a pinch me moment with so many superstars all wearing the FFF kit proudly, a number of these photos hang on the wall at Head Office and are a brilliant reminder of what a brilliant team we have and why we work so hard in service of them. The day was so special and everyone left with a spring in their step full of excitement for the future, and I can’t believe in just a few short months we’ll be doing it all over again at Sherwood Forest Center Parcs where we’ll be welcoming even more superstars as our team continues to grow. The pressure’s certainly to make it another day to remember and I cannot wait to see the team together again and create even more special memories!