"Just Be You" - Making a Difference

Knowle FC’s ‘Just Be You’ football sessions have helped boost the confidence of many young neurodiverse people.

The sessions, run every Saturday from 12:00-1:00pm by volunteer coaches, give attendees the opportunity to enjoy the game we all love by - literally - just being themselves.

From skill-building games to teamwork-based activities and even short-sided matches, the sessions’ aim is to provide a positive experience for all participants to enjoy themselves in a fun, non-competitive environment without fear of judgement or having to worry about being ‘the best’.

Open to all children and young people aged 5-16 who are neurodiverse or have a non-visible disability of any kind, our sessions are a safe space for participants to rekindle their love for football.

Following the success of free taster sessions over Easter 2025, the sessions have been held every week since August 2025 (rain or shine, except for extreme weather) at the Draintech Community Stadium (B93 0NX), home of Knowle FC, and have been a happy place for many youngsters.

One person in particular the sessions have been a help to is Daisy.

Daisy wasn’t able to get involved in much sport when she was younger because of Perthes Disease in her hip and required several extensive surgeries, which really impacted her confidence and mental health.

She started kicking a ball around in the garden as a way to get rid of the stress that the school day provided (as you can imagine, mainstream school isn’t the easiest thing for neurodiverse people!) and then began going to the park with her dad a lot. 

Daisy attended the taster sessions and really enjoyed them. She particularly enjoyed being with people who had similar interests without the pressure of feeling obliged to do something other than have fun. Daisy was adamant about joining the sessions once they got started in the summer and she has improved in confidence every week since.

Recognised for her enthusiasm and ability, Daisy was recently asked if she wanted to join one of the club’s many girls’ teams and has been supported by the kind, welcoming coaches, not only with the football itself, but also interacting with the other girls.

Daisy is now loving her football and it just goes to show what people can achieve when they have the right support around them.

Daisy’s story is a fantastic example of how helpful Knowle FC can be - but not the only one. The impact of these sessions resonates personally with me, too.

Despite writing 100+ articles about several different football-related things (more on that in a minute), I don’t think I’ve ever written anything about myself in particular, so it feels a bit strange - but I thought it would be a good idea for this feature.

I, George, 16, have a visual impairment and cerebral palsy on my left side, which has made it very difficult for me to play ‘normal’ football at a somewhat respectable level with people my own age. I would have loved to play for a grassroots team on a Sunday morning, much like many of my mates at school did, but I never got the chance to. “Dad, why can’t I be like them?” 12-year-old me would ask when watching my friends.

I instead ended up attending cerebral palsy (CP) football sessions put on by Stoke City (unbelievably the nearest option at the time), which meant my dad and I doing what were close to 100-mile round trips every Sunday just so I could get the chance to play football like everyone else.

They ended up having to stop their sessions eventually however, due to a lack of funding. There was potential for them to restart a couple of years later, but soon after COVID came around and brought that plan to an abrupt halt. Nothing really happened with it after that.

Anyway, I have since tried to come up with ways to still enjoy and get the most out of football - even if it meant not being able to play it to a reasonable level. Dad and I now religiously follow our beloved Birmingham City all over the country, rarely missing a match. I even attended a whopping 50 games in total during Blues’ record-breaking season in League One. Dad only managed 49 - and he will never hear the end of it from me!

At the same time, although I only really properly started in summer 2025 after my GCSEs, I have voluntarily been the lead writer at Blues Focus, arguably the top fan-run Birmingham City website. This means writing things like match reports (immediately after games, even on the way home!), previews and opinion pieces and having them read by hundreds, if not thousands, of Blues fans all over the world. My top article has over 6,000 reads!

After the success of the Easter taster sessions, I, like Daisy, have been coming to as many sessions as possible (when I’m not reporting on a Blues match a hundred miles away!) and have really enjoyed the positive and inclusive environment created by everyone at the club.

To top it all off, my dad just so happened to show club chairman Stuart Lanyon one of my articles, which he was so impressed by that he ended up asking if I wanted to write match reports on Knowle’s first team games and contribute to the match programmes and club website - along with pieces like this!

I’ve spoken about myself a fair bit here, but I just want to emphasise one more thing - how inclusive Stuart has made the writing for me. Aware of my visual impairment, Stuart explained how he was going to make sure I got sent the match footage via email and personally showed me how the software works so I could zoom in and see all the video in enough detail to write about it.

I would like to end by saying, on behalf of everyone who attends Knowle FC’s Just Be You sessions, a massive thank you to everyone at the club for all the hard work you do. It will never be taken for granted and you have all improved so many lives.

Up the Robins!