Children from three local primary schools across Dundee had an amazing morning of football and fun at a Tesco Bank Football Challenge Festival on Tuesday (8th November) on at Douglas Sports Centre as Dundee United manager and Scotland assistant national coach Peter Houston paid a special visit to the 184 participants.
The schools are the latest to have taken part in six weeks of coaching sessions as part of the Scottish FA’s flagship participation programme and are now coming together for a finale to remember.
The Tesco Bank Football Challenge is a four-year community programme run in partnership with the Scottish FA. The project introduces football to Primary 2 and Primary 3 children (six to eight years old) across Scotland to help get them engaged in a healthy and active lifestyle.
Now in its second year 600 boys and girls in the area have taken part, this year across eight schools. Overall, more than 36,000 children across Scotland will have been involved in the Tesco Bank Football Challenge by June 2012.
Neil Lowden, Head Teacher at St Pius Primary School said:
“The children had a fantastic day. The programme fits in really well to the Curriculum for Excellence, but more than anything else gets the children active at the same time as having a lot of fun. I cannot recommend the programme highly enough.”
Dundee United manager and Scotland assistant national coach Peter Houston said:
“It was brilliant to see the children have so much fun at the Tesco Bank Football Challenge. I think it is superb programme and I’m really pleased to support it.
Leisure & Culture Dundee, who work in partnership with Dundee City Council, football development officer Gavin Tinley added:
“At a time when participation is a big topic of discussion we are delighted to have the opportunity to get local kids involved in basic football activity through the Tesco Bank Football Challenge, which fits in entirely with the Scottish FA’s Scotland United 2020 strategy. The target to double the number of participants in football this year to 135,000 will be fantastically supported by programmes like this.”
Adele Mills, Community Investment Manager at Tesco Bank added:
“We are delighted our football programme gives children and teachers in the area the opportunity to get active and learn new skills. It’s great to see the children in Dundee having such a fantastic time.”
In the first year of the programme 479 schools across Scotland’s 32 local authorities participated in the programme, involving 19,061 boys and girls. There were 74 regional festivals and over 1000 teachers and volunteers went through the Scottish FA’s in-service programme.
The primary schools involved in this year’s Tesco Bank Football Challenge across Dundee are: Charleston Primary School, Hillside Primary School, Gowriehill Primary School, Claypotts Primary School, Newfields Primary School, Whitfield Primary School, St Pius Primary School, Charleston Primary School, Hillside Primary School, Gowriehill Primary School, Claypotts Primary School, Newfields Primary School, St Pius Primary School, Whitfield Primary School.