Pebble kicks off new growth for The Titans FA

Pebble kicks off new growth for The Titans FA

The Titans FA was founded in 2012 by Charlie Dainty, who recognised football’s power to teach more than technical skills. Coached right, it’s a framework to set kids up for life, too, teaching them social skills, teamwork and commitment, as well as encouraging self-confidence and a solid work ethic.

Making every kid feel like they belong

“Our philosophy is to develop the person and then the player,” explains Jamie Leboff, Head of Marketing at The Titans FA. “We offer academy-standard coaching at the same time as catering for kids at all levels, because the most important part of what we do isn’t teaching football skills; it’s creating a space where kids can grow up into confident, balanced adults.”

For The Titans FA’s coaches, knowing every kid’s name is a key part of this. “It’s important for them to feel recognised and valued just for being there,” Jamie adds. And while the overall quality of the football coaching counts for a lot, it’s the individual attention the coaches give the kids that matters most. “A certain kid might be great technically but needs a helping hand on the social-skills side. So our coaches will design sessions that give the kids chances to interact and work together, without anyone feeling singled out.”

And it’s not just the kids who grow — the coaches at The Titans FA do, too. “The coaches who work with us love it because they develop so much during their time with us,” Jamie says. “We give them room to grow their skills and experiment with their coaching style, putting their spin on our core lesson plans. And they know we’re still on hand for whatever support they need.”

The Titans FA also proudly runs girls-only sessions at three of its centres, offering quality coaching in an environment where girls know they’re the main event, and feel fully comfortable joining in.

Outgrowing old ways of working 

Using football as a mechanism for boosting physical and mental well-being is in the organisation’s DNA — and it’s proven to be very popular. The Titans FA is currently coaching 1,300 kids across 18 locations (and set to expand soon). 

The team offers two main activity types: holiday camps every half term and term-end (aside from Christmas) and weekly after-school sessions across their development centres. The brand’s growing popularity and ambitious expansion meant its admin and ops team were juggling plenty of bookings — and their software just couldn’t keep up. 

“We were growing too fast for our system, and the bookings became unmanageable because of its limited capabilities. We knew we needed something stronger,” Jamie shares. In summer 2023, The Titans FA switched to Pebble. 

How Pebble supports Titans FA

Compared to their old software, the team has seen a big difference in how clear and easy to use Pebble is. And they’re making the most of Pebble’s features as they continue to grow: 

Hassle-free booking
The team is feeling the benefits of Pebble’s quick and flexible booking process, integrated directly into their website. “We’ve had feedback from parents that it’s incredibly useful to be able to book in whole blocks for camps, and not just in single days. We saw our bookings go up after we switched on that feature in Pebble,” says Jamie. 

Custom discount codes

Easy personalisation is a big tick for The Titans FA: “We do sibling discounts, early bird specials, and discounts for the staff at schools where we run our sessions, so that their kids can join us at a reduced rate. And we can also run bespoke discounts now, like an extra offer we had to celebrate England reaching the Euros final in summer 2024,” Jamie explains. 

Pre-planning camps

Gathering data in Pebble helps The Titans FA plan out camp days in advance, as they know how many kids will be there, their ages and their names. With age groups and coaches matched up before each day kicks off, there’s no hanging around each morning — parents can get off to work efficiently, and the kids don’t start feeling nervous waiting around. 

The fact that Pebble makes checking capacity easy enhances The Titans FA’s marketing strategy, too. If they’re under-filled for a certain camp or after-school session, they’ll know to push it more (while keeping their coach-to-player ratio right, so the kids can have enough individual attention). 

Tracking financials

Pebble has made tracking their numbers much easier, and being able to see which customers have used their discounts has been particularly handy. “I’m not doing nearly as much in Excel as I was before,” Jamie says. “With Pebble, it takes me no time at all.” 

The Titans FA is also in the process of getting Ofsted-registered, and the team’s looking forward to this opening up more Pebble features for them (such as adding tax-free childcare vouchers to their checkout flow). 

To learn more about Pebble’s award-winning management software for children's activity providers, click here.