About
With such high costs to access sports programs, children and youth who come from low-income—and particularly immigrant families—are often left with more barriers to overcome in order to have equal opportunity. Cost, travel and transportation are the primary barriers to sports in Canada because we operate on a pay-to-play model. On top of that, as kids continue to improve and reach higher levels, prices can rise, adding to the barrier for low-income families. The costliness of sports has long been an accessibility issue for families trying to enrol their kids in sports programs. These barriers are so ingrained that now, athletic culture has been built with an emphasis on having money rather than being open to everyone— especially low-income kids and families. Football Forward thinks addressing the inequalities for those who can’t afford sports programs is “critical”.
“Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning. But for children play is serious learning.
Play is really the work of childhood.”
- Fred Rogers
Our Mission
The purpose of Football Forward is to support young football athletes from all walks of life on their football path to success, to learn, and in turn to become a mentoring resource for athletes, future leaders, academic institutions and recruiters.
Our Vision
Our vision is to create leaders. Organized sport is a contributing launchpad for Canada’s future leaders. To achieve this, we create football programming that is safe
and accessible for all children and youth, including those with limited resources. We aspire to coach, train and mentor young athletes to develop both technical and leadership skills in the communities where they live.
Football Forward’s contribution is to focus on real skills, family and respect, and an open arms policy to persons of all walks of life. In order to make this sport accessible for children and youth from all families, we work to actively reduce barriers to sport based on income, family status or other barriers as identified by participants.