Maddy is the mother of a Trust participant who takes part in both SEND Football and Camp Inspire and has spoken on the impact that the Trust has had on both her and her son’s life.
Talking about the struggles that her they have had in the past surrounding mainstream football teams, Maddy explained: “My son has struggled massively in life, in school, everything.
“He was in a mainstream football team and at this point we were on the journey of getting him diagnosed. So, I went in and said, look, this is where we’re at. We’re doing X, Y, Z. is he still okay to join? ‘Absolutely fine. We’re inclusive,’ they said.
“He was there for a good year, but within that year I could see his confidence was slipping, his love of football was dying, which for me is a massive thing because he absolutely loves football and he was just like a shadow of his former self.”
“I think it was lack of understanding. A child like my son, they are very complex. And obviously when you go into mainstream, a lot of them haven’t got any training at all.
“Some might have a bit of background or know a little bit or know people that have children like that, but they haven’t actually got the training.
“I feel like it was just a lack of understanding, a lack of wanting to understand sometimes as well. I think sometimes when a child displays that sort of behaviour, people just put it down to bad parenting. He’s a troublesome child when deep down he really isn’t.”
Moving on to when she first enquired about the Trust’s SEND Football team, Maddy admitted she was hesitant at first: “It took me a while because I’ve heard it all before. Bring him. He’ll love it. He’ll be understood. We know what we’re doing with him.
“I was like, this sounds too good to be true. So, it took me a couple of months to actually go ‘I’m doing this.’
“It was nice because there was never any pressure. It was always, ‘okay, you don’t want to do that, that’s fine, you don’t have to do that, let’s go and do this.’ Craig had loads of other adults and children, he runs the whole session, but he dedicated his time for my son.
“As a mum, to see that was like, wow, you’re making time for him. They knew that building that relationship up was the only way we were going to get through to him.
“Every child wants to be the best, they want to score the most goals, but he’s learning about teamwork, and it’s not just one person on that pitch. I think a lot of mainstream teams, they give awards out for the most goals, but the person that scored the goal isn’t the only person on the pitch.”
Continuing with how finding the Trust’s SEND Football team has changed their lives, Maddy added: “It’s literally turned our world upside down in a good way. For me, my children are my world, but having that support was great, I turned up, even the parents that are there, there’s no judgement, there’s no nothing. If you need to speak to them, you can speak about it. We’re all in the same boat.
“If he does have a little mishap, that the parents aren’t rolling their eyes. I feel like they all get it, and I think that he also knows that as well, that everyone’s in the same boat here. We’re all one big team.”
Maddy’s son also attends Camp Inspire, the Trust’s HAF programme over school holidays. On his first day, she said: “I spoke to Craig about the holiday club. I’ve tried every holiday club that’s on and around here, and I was getting phone calls saying, ‘he can’t cope.’
“I just gave up, I thought there’s no point in trying it, and obviously when Craig came over and said, ‘we can get him one-to-one, do you want to do it?’ and I said yes.
“He really enjoyed it, and he was actually joining in because there’s not much structure, they can do what they want, within reason. If he wants to go and play outside and play football, he can do, if he wants to go and join in, he can do, but he was asking to go and join in with the other children, which was amazing to hear.”
Finally, Maddy spoke on the impact it has had on her that her son now attends Camp Inspire over the holidays. She said: “It’s like respite, I’m with them 24-7, so being able to get things done and have some time to myself was lovely, it was lovely.”
