The Premier League Charitable Fund has launched the Premier League Kicks Alumni survey, which aims to understand the impact that the Premier League's longest-running community programme has on participants.
As part of this campaign, we are telling the story of the programme through the voices of those who have taken part.
To complete the Alumni survey, click here.
Premier League Kicks has been an important part of Zhane Ferguson's life since secondary school.
Her story began as a 14-year-old when she first started attending the female development sessions run by Brentford FC Community Sports Trust.
Today, all 93 club charities delivering Premier League Kicks run mixed and girls' only sessions, as part of the Premier League's commitment to supporting more girls and young women to play the game they love.
It wasn't long before she wanted to try out her skills in mixed sessions.
"I really stuck out!" she says. "But they would always include me and make sure I was aware that I wasn't different to them. It was a big part of growing up.
"It grew my confidence being young and among so many boys. It was a push in the right direction. Every week it was a place that you could go to, have people to talk to and have a bit of football to play."
Like so many other participants in the programme, this initial contact with Premier League Kicks and coaches from Brentford FC Community Sport Trust gave Zhane opportunities to explore possible career pathways.
Within six months of joining Premier League Kicks, she had already been offered the chance to become a volunteer.
"She would consistently turn up to the session regardless of the weather and always wanted to help out where ever she could," says the Trust's senior education co-ordinator Shaun Preddie. "She became a role model for others, always providing warm inspirational words and making them feel happy.
"Due to her positive influence, we asked her to start volunteering across our Premier League Kicks sessions, where she continued to flourish."
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For the last two years, Zhane has been a member of staff with the Trust as a programme co-ordinator for the education department, using her knowledge and experience to be an advocate, role model and mentor for other young people in west London.
"Having free football sessions for the young people I work with in Brentford is a very powerful thing," she says. "A lot of people struggle and it's very hard times so to have that free provision is very engaging. The sense of community that it brings is very inspiring.
"Premier League Kicks gives young people something to do. A lot of young people need something to put their energy into and Premier League Kicks is a part of that.
"Premier League Kicks is a platform that can raise you to higher ground and encourage more from yourself. It nurtures young talent and creates more avenues and ventures for them."
Funded by the Premier League through the Premier League Charitable Fund, Premier League Kicks uses the power of football and sport to inspire young people to reach their potential, in some of the most high-need areas in England and Wales.
More than half a million people have benefited to date.
