Planet Penguin Football Foundation

Brentford Penguins Football Club for children with Downs Syndrome started in October 2017, founded by ex-Brentford and Spurs player Allan Cockram and his wife Victoria. Though many community football clubs offer pan-disability training sessions, Allan identified children with Down’s were not always given the attention they needed or deserved. So, Allan and Victoria decided to start up a very specific and unique football club for any child with Downs Syndrome aged 5 or over of ANY ability. The club has grown over the years and now helps over 30 players, some of whom travel over 80 miles every week to train.

Being a competitive team is NOT what the Penguins are about. Instead, we focus on well-being and health. Since the start we have noticed a huge improvement in our player’s physical health. For example, by maintaining a healthy weight through undertaking regular exercise. People with Down’s have a lower metabolic rate and tend to burn fewer calories so this is a significant achievement.

Many children with Downs Syndrome struggle to socialise. Club coaching sessions allow a safe and non-judgemental environment to enable our players to learn to communicate, socialise, interact with one other and make friends. As a result, we have seen a huge improvement in their emotional and mental wellbeing. This impacts positively on a variety of aspects in their life such as their overall confidence, happiness and a provides a strong sense of belonging.

The goals of our club are to provide a professional football club experience for our players and maintain a quality training environment. This includes regular external incentives such as days out, school holiday camps and attendance at Premiership football matches. This provides a rewarding and positive lifestyle for our players and their families.

Over the years our players and their families have become a very tightknit community and are now a support mechanism for one another. This is heart-warming to witness.

Building on this success we are now developing monthly Learning Zones. These are sessions run by specialist teachers and coaches targeted at areas where children with Downs Syndrome can benefit most. For example, speech therapy, yoga sessions and sign language. For our older players we want to help facilitate a seamless pathway into the workplace so their future is better structured and they can achieve their full potential.

Your donations will enable us to continue delivering our coaching sessions and develop so we can further support and improve the lives of our players and others joining in the future, Thank you so much for your support. .