Since September 2022, Fulham FC Foundation have been working in partnership with Movember, the world’s leading men’s health charity, to deliver their renowned Ahead of The Game programme to young people, coaches and parents. The workshops aim to increase the knowledge of our community around mental wellbeing and equip young people with the tools to take action.
Ahead of The Game is a series of workshops delivered to young people, their coaches and their parents, with the aim of educating about the signs and symptoms of common mental health issues, coping strategies, and how to help others who may be experiencing mental health challenges.
Since launching the programme, Fulham FC Foundation have delivered workshops to an astonishing 1,047 young people, 140 parents and 83 coaches, firmly helping to build better lives through sport.
Fulham FC Foundation first delivered Ahead of The Game to young people at our Premier League Kicks programme, which offers free football sessions to teenagers. Since then, participants from Fulham FC Foundation’s Football & Education, Premier League Inspires, Made In Fulham, Player Pathway, Girls Development Centre, DisAbility (capital A for Ability), EmpowHer and Soccer Schools programmes have also taken part.
Beyond our own programmes, we have also engaged partners and groups such as Fulham FC Women’s U18s, The Queens Club, Movember’s Ambassadors, Indoamerican Refugee and Migrant Organisation, Surrey FA and Hillsong Church, in the programme.
Our long running partnership with Movember has been instrumental in engaging with the Fulham Family and developing their mental health knowledge and skills. Mental health has been identified as a huge issue across the population, particularly amongst young people. The Mental Health Foundation report that 75% of mental health problems are established by the age of 24, so delivering workshops to under-18s aims to support young people to understand their own health and provide early intervention and prevention tools.
"From meeting the Fulham FC Foundation facilitators at the Movember’s Ahead of the Game training, it was clear to see the passion that they had working with children and young people, and I'm pleased to say that following on from the training and watching the delivery of 'Help out a mate' you can see that it means a lot to them, they showed great knowledge, empathy and also delivered quality sessions." - Keith Senior, Community and Wellbeing Support Manager, Rugby League Cares
"Watching the passion and dedication that Fulham FC Foundation have put into delivering Ahead of the Game to their community over the past year has been very special. We are delighted to be partnering with them to raise awareness and support young people’s mental health across South-West London." - Emmanuelle Graciet, Program Implementation Manager, Movember
"I was impressed by the knowledge that young people already had about mental wellbeing even as the workshop began. It was tremendous to see how engaged the young people were, how highly the coaches valued the workshop, and the importance that the parents saw in understanding the mental wellbeing of young people." - Ben McIlwaine, Mental Wellbeing Practitioner, Fulham FC Foundation
To find out more about Fulham FC Foundation’s work with mental health, email health@fulhamfc.com
Click below to discover More Than A Game Football, regular free mental health football sessions benefiting adults in our community.
