The Square Peg and Junior Ability Football – Argyle Community Trust.
Edward has been trying out some sessions at Junior Ability Football, run by the Argyle Community Trust. It’s been about 4 years since I tried to take Edward to an organised activity. When he was 3 I took him to gymnastics. I was adamant that Edward should be included in mainstream activities. The gymnastics leaders and all the other kids were wonderful with him. They let him run around the hall and climb all over them when he was supposed to be listening and doing the warm up. I tried to take him for as long as possible, until I’d had enough of chasing him round. So we stopped.
It’s only recently that he has shown interest in taking part in activities. So when I found out about these sessions with the Argyle Community Trust I thought why not give it a go.
When I told Edward that we were going, he was really excited and insisted that he had a pair of football boots like his big brother. So I found him a great pair of Nike Velcro fastening ones on Vinted for about £3.
Edward’s first football session.
He was so excited for his first session and had an amazing time…..until it finished. He had seen his older brother come back from football with a trophy for Man of the Match and assumed that you got one of these every time you went to football. So when this training session finished and he didn’t get a trophy, he threw himself on the floor screaming ‘I WANT A TROPHY!!!!’ The lovely staff said that he could have a medal but he literally threw it back in their faces screaming that he wanted a trophy…🤦🏻♀️
A proper football kit.
I ordered him a cute little Plymouth Argyle kit and he loves wearing it to his football sessions. He evens manages to wear long socks with shin pads. These are not his favourite bit of kit but he tolerates during them the session. As soon as he’s finished he demands that they’re taken off straight away and travels home in just his nappy….
Standard behaviour.
During the sessions, he has a great time. He completely ignores everything the coaches tell him to do. He runs round with the corner flag, collects all the footballs, hides behind the goals, runs round with cones on his head and try’s to put them on everyone else’s head.
Last week I was thinking, should I bother bringing him anymore? He just does whatever he wants. Then I thought, yes I will keep taking him because he’s having a great time, nobody minds because it is for special needs and one day he might join in properly.
If anyone is thinking of taking their autistic child to football then I recommend Junior Ability Counts or something similar. I’m sure every football club has a community trust.
