Tiny Feet, Massive Fun: The “ABC” of Kids’ Football Training

15/06/2023

This year’s JC Youth Football Development is expanding into early childhood education for the first time, giving young children an opportunity to grow up healthy through football. The programme is training teachers from 7 kindergartens to lead football training programmes for children in K2 and K3. Through a game-based training method and with inspiration and encouragement as its key guiding principles, the programme aims to develop students’ interest in football, while encouraging the children to express themselves and to promote rewarding interactions between children and their parents.

Overseeing the training sessions is Chris O’Brien (OB), head coach of Manchester United Football. He shared that more than cultivating children’s passion for football, the training programme incorporates the important “ABC” elements: “The goal of youth football training is to improve Agility, Balance and Coordination, which are all crucial to the children’s continued growth and development.”

Leung Sau-ting, principal of one of the participating schools Bo Bo Nursery School, said that the most valuable part of the programme was the opportunity it created for parents and teachers to join the training and to experience the fun of football with the children together. “OB let teachers experience the training themselves first-hand, and also introduced a parent -child session. This really strengthened the bond between the children and their parents and teachers.”