Recently one of our Fulham FC Foundation participants had the experience of a lifetime – walking out with the Fulham squad to face Aston Villa at Craven Cottage!
Kiara first started her journey at Fulham FC Foundation in September when she signed up for our junior pan DisAbility session at the Stephen Wiltshire Centre in Fulham on Monday nights. At that very first session she turned up so excited and enthusiastic – ready to hit the ground running, and she did exactly that!
“The coaches and other players were super nice to me, it made me feel happy.” - Kiara
“From the first time Kiara came to us, we could see she was really excited, and that rubbed off on everyone else – she was a perfect addition to the Stephen Wiltshire Centre family!” - Huck Shuttleworth, Foundation Coach, Fulham FC Foundation
The following week, after impressing her coaches at that very first session, Kiara attended an open session for Fulham FC Foundation’s Girls Development Centre (GDC) programme, a weekly activity for talented female footballers. Today, she attends both her DisAbility session and her GDC session every single week and we are so proud to be able to see her ability and confidence develop massively every single week!
“She loves the Monday and Tuesday sessions and spends all week talking about them!” - Sevil, Kiara’s mum
Kiara attended her first ever Fulham match (or football game in general) at Fulham versus West Ham on 14th September 2024 - she enjoyed it so much and was keen to go to more games.
A few weeks on from this, with Kiara still attending both her weekly sessions and still being the hard working, bubbly and fun ball of energy that she is, the opportunity came up for Fulham FC Foundation to nominate one lucky participant to be a mascot for the home match against Aston Villa - Kiara was chosen due to how much she had excelled in just two months since she joined, being ambitious in her sessions and always being herself!
She couldn’t contain her excitement, and when the day came she made the most of it – proudly walking onto the pitch like she owned the place.
“I’ve never seen her so happy! She spoke about it all weekend and shared her fantastic experience with her whole school on Monday. She found herself in the programme and told everyone she saw that she was famous. That made me smile.” - Sevil, Kiara’s Mum
“I was a little nervous at the start but had an amazing day. I am so happy and really want to do it all over again. I walked out with number 16 Sander Berge and he was really nice, it was the best day of my life!” - Kiara
At Fulham FC Foundation, we are hugely proud of our participants and Kiara is absolutely no exception, she is still attending both her weekly sessions and we are so excited to see just how much she develops as a footballer and a person during her time with us!
To find out more about Fulham FC Foundation’s DisAbility programmes, visit the link below or contact disability@fulhamfc.com.
To find out more about your child having the chance to become a mascot for future Premier League games at Craven Cottage via our mascot prize draw, email mascots@fulhamfc.com.
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