In September this year, Brentford attended Premier League Mornings Live in Chicago.

Premier League Mornings Live is a two-day fan festival created in partnership with NBC Sports, where fans can watch Premier League matches on big screens together while enjoying a host of other exciting activities.

As a part of activities around the festival, ex-Brentford player Allan Cockram was in attendance. As founder of the Brentford Penguins, his organisation holds football training sessions for children with Down’s Syndrome aged five and over.

The Penguins have been supported by Brentford throughout their growth. Brentford hosted an event bringing together Allan and founder of Chicago TopSoccer, Shawn Danhouser.

Like Allan, Shawn runs a soccer programme called Chicago TopSoccer, a community-based training programme for athletes with intellectual, emotional and/or physical disabilities to play the game in a safe, fun and supportive environment.

As well as running the programme, Shawn is also a Brentford fan and founded the Chicago Bees, a supporter group for fellow Chicago residents who support the club.

Allan, along with 17-year-old Brentford Penguins player, Charlie Rowley, attended a Chicago TopSoccer training session held by Shawn.

The coaches were able to attend to exchange best practice when coaching individuals with disabilities and discuss their experiences.

As well as attending the training session, Allan and Shawn attended a Brentford fan event and spoke to Bees supporters about their respective football programmes for people with disabilities. Charlie also shared what being a part of the Brentford Penguins means to him and how it has helped him.

The meeting between the two coaches was documented and shown on NBC earlier this week. Watch the video below.