At the Football Fun Factory we offer every child a three week free trial before signing up to our weekly programmes and so we should, we shouldn’t just expect a parent to sign their little one to our programmes without first seeing if they enjoy it and seeing if they’d like to continue. It’s my belief that too often in children’s activities parents have to commit to paying for something before they really understand what they are signing up for.
And to be completely honest we were guilty of this in our earliest days, we offered a one week free trial and expected the families to make a decision whether they wanted to join the programme. It wasn’t enough time to see if was definitely right, that’s why we extended it to three weeks which of course is extremely generous of the Football Fun Factory and the Head Coaches but we want the child and parents to truly understand what we are and what there child will experience, knowing about our ethos and values to see if they think there child will benefit from it.
We absolutely love it too because it means we are constantly welcoming new children to our sessions and gives us the opportunity to showcase what we do because it’s something we are incredibly proud of! Of course the most important people are the children who we hope will enjoy a wonderful 3 week experience and be eager to come back but we also want to give the parents the most positive experience so they believe their child will benefit in many, many different ways attending our programmes.
We fully understand that the parents are the most important people in their child’s life and vice versa so they of course want to have peace of mind that their child is in the best possible hands playing football and developing positive life skills. And we believe 3 weeks gives both the child and parent the opportunity to make that decision. We pride ourselves in our communication with the children’s families through positive language and email and social media communication. We make sure every child is treated the same regardless of ability or experience playing the game. Football’s for everyone and every child deserves the same attention from the coach.
All too often it’s children being put on trial for their footballing ability at development centers, Academmies etc. which at those youngest ages is completely wrong, they are way too young to be judged on how they play the game by anyone. The definition of a trial is ‘a test of the performance, qualities, or suitability of someone or something’ that is certainly not something a child should have to do, that’s why at the Football Fun Factory is us that’s on trial not the children, it’s our responsibility to impress them with the way we engage and inspire through football, not the other way round and for us that’s always the way it should be.