Warriors Walk in the Well Lane Football Club

THERE may be many reasons as to why someone with additional needs may be hesitant to participate in team sporting activities.

This ranges from underdeveloped communication skills, awkwardness and anxiety in social situations and in the case of those on the Autism Spectrum sensitivity to environmental stimuli such as bright lights, noises and large crowds.

However it is thanks to the commendable efforts shown on the part of one loving mother from Newry who has two children on the autism spectrum but still wanted their kids to experience the joy of team football that has lead to the founding of the Well Lane Warriors Football Club.

Based out of the Newry Sports Centre the Well Lane Warriors F.C have for the past two years provided a friendly, welcoming and most importantly fun environment for any and all those children within the community who have additional needs to come along to train and compete in team football, with the club having just recently won the prestigious Foyle Cup football tournament beating out the Oxford Bulls from Derry and the Downs and Proud team from Lurgan to emerge as the undisputed champions of indoor football.

According to Jessica McMahon, who alongside Vincent Doran, was one of the founding members of the Windmill Stars Football for All Team, the group which would prove the progenitor to the Well Lane Warriors F.C, the initial idea to establish a football team for young people with learning disabilities grew out of a desire to be able to take both of her children who are on the Autism Spectrum to football practice

Windmill Stars Football for All

“The Well Lane Warriors F.C were founded in February of 2017 within Windmill Stars Football club. We began in a disability section in their team thanks to my brother in l aw Vincent Doran who helped to establish us within this club as Windmill Stars Football For All.

“ I discussed with Vincent how it is the one thing that I have always wanted to do is to be able to take both my kids who are on the Autism Spectrum to Football. Given their autism diagnosis there was nothing available in the town at the time. Vincent could not believe this.

“We called up a guy called Alan Crooks who is in Disability Football in the IFA and we got the go ahead to start a team. We put out flyers, left them in schools and put up a post on Facebook and on the first week we had 32 kids. This filtered down to 18 overtime. The project ran under the IFA was football for all and it was for anyone with a learning disability or any type of special need. This ran right up until Covid, and we actually held a tournament in Lurgan the week before lockdown.

“During Covid we contemplated not coming back, thinking that maybe we had done enough. However we also thought that to get grants and to move the club forward we would have to set up on our own so we restarted in September of 2021 as the Well Lane Warriors F.C along with my nephew Jack McMahon and Derek McParland who is a family friend. They have been with us from the start and it is because of the two of them and the other coach that we have Niamh Havern that Well Lane Warriors F.C has been running this long. Without Jack, Derek and Niamh the club would not exist because they have been with us week in and week out and they are the reason that the club has kept going.

A place to belong and be part of a team

Jessica elaborated on the services that the Well Lane Warriors Football Club provides to its members as well as the positive impact that participating in a Team Sport can and does have for those children and young people who live with a learning disability or have additional needs in the community.

“Well Lane Warriors F.C is a place to belong and a place to be a part of a team. We have the best bunch of kids and the best bunch of parents.

“We have kids with Autism, we have kids with Down Syndrome, we have kids with Global Learning Difficulties. We provide one hour a week football coaching to kids aged 11 and up and the opportunity to play in tournaments across both the north and south of Ireland. We have 18 members currently and we will be going up to 21 in September but we can't take anymore in at the minute

“The training takes place on a Thursday between 6.30pm and 7.30pm in the main hall of the sports centre and this is the best hour of the week. We do warm up and we do practice drills for technique and then we play a match. We split the team into two and we play a game each week. From this there is a player of the week picked as this past year I have also introduced a player of the week trophy to give the kids an incentive to give their best every week.

“The impact that participating in a team sport has on a young person with a learning disability or additional needs is massive. Anyone who is involved in something like this will always tell you about the confidence that this brings to all participants. Getting them to work together in groups was a bit of a challenge at the start but we started in smaller groups of three and do a little bit of work with these groups and then we would build the groups together to try and develop confidence.

“We would also do one on one coaching with them together as well. When we first started a lot of them had never played before so we had to start very slowly and work with a lot of drills and a lot of very basic stuff to begin with to teach them the basic skills which they now apply week in week out without even thinking. Now whenever they come in they can literally take the training themselves at this point.”

It is owing to the remarkable degree of dedication and resiliency shown on the part of all the team members of the Well Lane Warriors F.C that they were able to emerge as the victors from the final match played in this seasons Foyle Cup, a victory which Jessica states “meant the world to the team” especially since they came so close to winning the cup last year but lost on penalties.

An Amazing Feeling

“I contacted the IFA to see if there were any teams that play at our level and I was put in touch with Kevin Morrison in Derry and Aine Beaty in Lurgan both of whom are parents and who set up a team similar to my own.

“I organised the first football tournament for all three teams in Newry in June of 2019 and this is the first time the three of us all played each other and it was just a reward for everything we had done up until this point because we were training week in and week out. After this we agreed that we would each take a turn per season and have three tournaments a season to give the kids something to aim and train for.

“It was an amazing feeling whenever we won the Foyle Cup this year as last year we lost in the finals so this was a big victory for them and they were two very good sides that we played against, this meant the world to them especially since we came so close last year. It was seven and a half minutes each half with eight players on each team . Each team played each other then the two top teams played each other in the final. The two other teams were called Downs and Proud from Lurgan and the Oxford Bulls from Derry.”

Big Happy Family

The gravity of having won the Foyle Cup has not been lost on Caroline and Fely Doran, parents of team member Lillyrose Doran who stated that the day upon which the Well Lane Warriors emerged as the tournaments victors is a day “that will never be forgotten” in their child's life.

“To be part of the Well Lane Warriors F.C is amazing, the support given to us as parents and our children is amazing, the club is just what our children needed

“To have won the coveted Foyle Cup the feeling is unreal. The excitement on the children's faces said it all, it means so much to us as a family and the club who have done so much to get us to where it is we are today, this is a day that will never be forgotten in our children's life.

“My daughter had heard of the WellLane Warriors Football Club and kept asking me if she could join the team. We see how happy our daughter is going to training, everyone is like a big happy family, all the children and parents are so friendly and happy to see each other each week.

“The coaching team is outstanding from Jessica who has started this wee club off to Derek, Jack and Niamh who go way beyond for our children. They have took them on so well. Our daughter looks up to these coaches and we as parents could not thank them enough. They put in so much of their time, they are just incredible. They take the time to listen to our children and to watch and understand each and every one of them. If it where not for Jessica and the other coaches we would not be where it is we are today.

The children have gained friendship, understanding, confidence and so much more from this wee club. It is amazing.”