Pass marks

11th October 2002, 1:00am

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Pass marks

https://www.tes.com/magazine/archive/pass-marks-0
A skills-based training programme run by the Football Association is turning enthusiastic primary teachers into expert coaches, as Bernard Adams discovers

It’s a warm autumn afternoon in a sleepy village in Oxfordshire. On the sloping grass outside Horspath Primary School 25 seven-year-olds are working on their football skills. Their track-suited teacher, Kami Smith, has split them into five groups. They stand in circles, controlling then passing the ball, first one way, then the other. Next they play pig-in-the middle where one player tries to intercept the accurate passes. And so it goes on - a woman PE co-ordinator confidently teaching football and delivering the curriculum.

Such a scene has been fairly uncommon until recently. A major factor in creating this change is the Football Association’s TOP Sport Football programme. A day’s training for teachers is co-ordinated by the local education authority and then, a month later, the TOP Football bag arrives at the trained teacher’s school. It is handily mobile and contains six footballs, plastic goalposts and nets that can be assembled into six mini-goals or a single 3.6 metre-wide, by 1.8 metre-high goal. Most important of all, however, are the dozen practical teaching cards. The cards clearly itemise the aims of the programme:

* to develop understanding using progressive activities

* to involve small groups of children working in areas of appropriate size

* to reinforce skill development.

Kami Smith says that she was always “into” sport, but football was not especially her thing. “I would watch it, but I wasn’t knowledgeable about it. I wanted to learn more.”

Her school provided supply cover for her to attend a training day. This included some classroom theory and discussion, and then moved to a sports hall to give teachers a chance to learn how to deliver the skills and practices suggested on the teaching cards.

The practices are a key element. One is called “Hijack” and involves the skill of taking the ball away from another player. Another deals with heading the ball - a demanding skill that is made to look easy by the professionals.

The prescribed practice here involves pupils working in pairs and always starting with a throw rather than a header.

There’s also a clever device to allow pupils to learn “The Wing Game” - the skill of dribbling the ball down the sideline. A zone down the edge of the mini-pitch is made a no-go area for defenders. The ball has to be passed into the area, received and then, after a clear run, passed back into the middle of the pitch.

Mini-football is also a key element. Teams number between four and seven players and there has to be a change of goalkeepers whenever a goal is scored. There is no offside rule, which cuts out any arguments and makes life much easier for teachers. There are no sidelines either. The ball is played back in by whoever has the energy to fetch it.

Oxfordshire hopes to deliver a course and a bag to every school in the county by Christmas, which is well ahead of the targets set by the Football Association. Ted Mitchell, Oxfordshire county football development officer, has been largely responsible for this rapid implementation. He feels that the course has been increasing teachers’ confidence, particularly for those who have never taught football before: “Our evaluation shows that we are meeting their needs. Many teachers who come to us are going on to do our 10-hour teaching course.”

Local educational authorities are partners in the TOP Sport Football enterprise. In Oxfordshire, Kate Tye, who is the Active Schools co-ordinator, believes that it’s helpful that Ted Mitchell, who conducts the courses, isn’t primarily a football coach. “He understands where the teachers are coming from and this has been one of the best things provided for primary schools in a long time,” she says.

“It has given all teachers in all primary schools the opportunity to teach football as part of the curriculum, not just deliver extra-curricular games.”

Kami Smith has trained her enthusiastic class to assemble and carry the mini-goals on to the pitch. As the session at Horspath continues in the sunshine, Year 3 pupils go on to play mini-football. The girls participate but, inevitably, the practised, determined boys dominate. “Unfortunately, from the football point-of-view, I have more boys than girls in the class, but the emphasis in TOP Football is on skills and the girls are picking up those very well working in small groups. The course is very attuned to their needs.”

The TOP Sport Football programme operates nationwide. For more information contact your county football association, LEA or Donna McIvor at the Football AssociationTel: 020 7745 4601 www.TheFA.com

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