Football for two and three year olds — before it counts.

An hour of fun at Jordanstown every Sunday, with you on the floor beside them.

Planned at £29 a month — shirt and ball included, stop whenever you like. Every penny goes straight into the programme. It's run entirely by volunteers, for the community, and nobody takes a wage from it. Funded places are built in for families who need them — no forms, no questions.
Register your interest

We're just getting started. Nothing to pay yet — this is to gauge how many families want it.

What makes this different

It isn't a class. It's a club they grow up in together.

Most toddler football is sold in blocks. You buy six weeks, they finish, and the children beside them change every term. Then at four or five they walk into a grassroots club, usually alone and usually for a trial — and only then, if it goes well, do the friendships that keep a child in the game start to form.

We think that's the wrong way round.

Your child joins at two or three and stays with the same group until they're five. Same faces, same room, same Sunday. There are levels to work through, a passport that fills up as they go, and the whole group moves up together.

Same group, not a rolling classA small group of families who stay together, so the friendships are real ones.
You're in it, not watching itOn the floor beside them, with a coach showing you what to do — not on a touchline.
Indoors, all winterA warm room every Sunday, in the months when there's nothing else to do with a toddler.
Everybody plays, every weekNo trials and nobody being sized up. Every child gets the same hour, the same ball and the same welcome.
And we help you find the right club at the endWe know the local clubs. At five we'll help you find the one that actually suits your child — the competitive one or the gentle one, whichever they need. We don't mind which, and we don't get anything out of it.

Why we start this early

Most children meet football at four or five.

Usually outdoors, in the elements, among strangers, without the person who makes them feel brave. Within a few weeks somebody decides whether they're good enough for that particular team. Plenty are told no, and plenty never go back.

Two and three year olds are extraordinary. They're learning to run, to share, to wait a turn, to be brave in a room they've never been in before. That is the real work at this age, and it is more than enough. Football is simply the happiest way we know of doing it.

There will be a time when it counts. There'll be scores and leagues and trials and all the rest of it, and that's fine — but not yet. Get these years right and by the time anyone starts counting goals, the game is already something they love, in a room full of people they know.

Before you ask

Why football?

Because it's the most popular sport in the world, and there's a reason for that. A two year old understands it in about four seconds — there's a ball, you kick it. It's an hour of running, stopping and turning, which is exactly the sort of moving they should be doing at this age. And all it ever needs is a ball and a bit of space, so they can keep doing it in the back garden for nothing.

Mine has never played football

Neither has anybody else. That's rather the point of starting before it counts.

What if they won't join in?

Some children watch for weeks. Some dip in and out. That's completely normal at two, and nobody is pressured to join in. They can stay on your knee for as long as they need — the room isn't going anywhere.

What if they cry?

You'll be standing right there, which is the whole idea. This is the one age where the person who fixes it is already in the room.

Do I have to be sporty?

No. You need to be willing to sit on a floor. The coach will tell you what to do.

Is it safe?

Every coach holds a current enhanced AccessNI check and already coaches children weekly. Nobody here shouts at small children. And a grown-up stays with every child for the whole session.

Do we have to commit to three years?

Not at all. You pay monthly and can stop whenever you like. The three years is what we're building, not something we ask you to sign for.

Register your interest

We're a brand new not-for-profit, starting with one small group this autumn. Places are limited and we'll take them in the order people sign up. Nothing to pay and nothing to commit to — we just want to know how many families are interested, so we can confirm the hall and the time.

We'll only use this to talk to you about Before It Counts. No lists, no sharing, and you can ask us to delete it at any time.