TV’s Ben Shephard delighted with Grow the Game funding for Kinetic London FC

Ben Shephard, ITV’s Good Morning Britain and Sky Sports’ Goals on Sunday presenter, spoke of his delight after grassroots football in Croydon received a £4,500 boost in the form of a Grow the Game grant from the Football Foundation, the country’s largest sports charity. The grant will allow Kinetic London FC to run it's first ever grassroots team entering the SELKENT league in the Under 16 age category. The squad will comprise of 18 talented youngsters giving an additional football opportunity alongside Kinetic Academy. The Premier League and The FA fund the Grow the Game scheme with £1.9m, which is delivered by the Football Foundation, the nation’s largest sports charity. The scheme is designed to increase participation in our national game by helping clubs to meet the essential costs of starting new teams. The key strength of Grow the Game is that its participation increases are sustainable rather than transient. Its grants create a solid infrastructure of teams and newly-trained coaches in which new people can start playing the sport, rather than simply providing temporary activity sessions, which are then vulnerable to drops in participation once the programme ends. This year sees a particular emphasis placed on increasing the number of teams and players from the Under-15 age bracket and above, to address the decline in participation that has traditionally occurred as young people leave school and college. The other key focus is on growing the numbers of girls’, women’s and disability teams. James Fotheringham, Chief Operating Officer, said: "We are extremely grateful to the football foundation for the grant and giving us the opportunity to further enhance the Kinetic Academy programme and opportunities for our young people. We now have another means of engaging fully with an additional age group and this will help us impact on another 18 young people per year." A Football Foundation Ambassador and a keen footballer himself, Ben Shephard said: “This Grow the Game funding, provided by the Premier League and The FA, is excellent news for Kinetic London FC. They deserve real credit for working with the Football Foundation and the Surrey FA to help secure the grant." “Grow the Game funding makes a tangible difference, it helps to increase participation in the sport. It allows clubs at the lowest levels of the game to pay for things associated with starting new teams, like making sure their volunteer coaches can get qualified with FA coaching badges.” For more information contact:James Fotheringham, james@kinetic-foundation.org.uk About Grow the Game During the 2013/14 season the Football Foundation through its Grow the Game scheme created:

• 1,753 new teams.
• 20,500 new football players per £1.5m invested.
• 6,071 new female footballers.
• 2,209 disabled footballers since 2010.
• 5,747 new coaching qualifications.

 About the Football Foundation The Football Foundation was launched in 2000. Since then, using money from its Funding Partners – the Premier League, The FA and the Government via Sport England, the Foundation has awarded around 13,000 grants worth more than £520m towards improving grassroots sport, which it has used to attract additional partnership funding of over £736m – over £1.24bn of investment into the grassroots game. For more information about the Football Foundation visit www.footballfoundation.org.uk or follow us on Twitter @FootballFoundtn.