As the Covid-19 pandemic continues well into the year, the concept of a new normal has materialised. In the face of restrictions and other safety precautionary measures, many sports have inevitably been forced to take a backseat.

 

However, it remains paramount that schools continue prioritising sports to promote an active and healthy lifestyle for students. Recognising the need for students to remain physically fit during this period, schools have been allowed to resume co-curricular activities (CCAs).

 

In line with this, the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) initiated conducting a webinar to share creative ways for football training to continue in a safe manner in schools.

Working together with the Ministry of Education (MOE), this webinar took place on 21 August 2020. A total of 51 MOE teachers and coaches from 24 schools attended the 1.5-hour theory session conducted by Head of Coach Education Mohd Zainudeen Hassan as well as appointed Coach Developers Toni Teo Tong Ngee, Haris Bin Sumri and Winston Yap Hsiao Ming.

 

During the webinar, information about how to plan training sessions amid Covid-19 restrictions were shared, on top of other topics such as creating a fun learning environment, training set-ups, warm up exercises, technical and skill exercises as well as small-group games.

 

Participants of the webinar have found the session to be useful, citing the videos and animations of drills to be especially engaging and suited for use in schools. Most of them also indicated that they would attend similar sessions organised by the FAS in the future.

 

Said one of the teachers, “I thought Coach Toni sharing his drills with actual videos of the boys doing the drills was superb – it was an instant buy-in.”

 

In light of the strong support and positive feedback received from the participants of this webinar, the FAS will be planning to host more of such sessions for our school coaches in the future.