The England Women's team have kept the momentum of their Euro 2022 success rolling by writing an open letter to the two prospective next leaders of the Conservative Party and next Prime Minster.
In the letter, the co-signing Lionesses ask for all girls to be offered a minimum of two hours per week, adding: "The reality is that we are inspiring young girls to play football, only for many to end up going to school and not being able to play."
Currently, only 63% of schools in the UK offer football as an option for girls in PE lessons. Less than half of primary schools have a dedicated PE teacher, so teachers who are used to delivering PE lessons on tennis, swimming, and running can't be expected to switch to coaching football overnight.
So where do these new football PE lessons come from? The letter sent by the Lionesses asks that investments should be made to provide more female PE teachers, but those teachers, and existing staff, must be upskilled - and fast.
Providing football for girls in PE lessons will be useless unless they are given proper fundamental technical education - perhaps even counter-productive if girls who are interested in football become disillusioned when they find they are unable to participate in the sport competently.
Using technology to teach the fundamentals of football
TopTekkers is the app created by top coaches to ensure that young players are learning the fundamental techniques in the right way from day one. Children watch tutorials, take on challenges, and win trophies for improving their own performance. The professional video tutorials in the app are deigned by UEFA A Licensed, and Premier League Academy coaches, with additional graphical overlays to help children understand each task.
The great thing for teachers is, with a coach's TopTekkers account, they can set training plans for in the classroom, and as homework - and they also have the ability to monitor their pupil's progress through the app's progression charts and leaderboards.
The tutorials are also educational for teachers, because they are able to see the techniques being performed properly, and incorporate their delivery and subsequent corrections into their lessons.
TopTekkers is already trusted by youth academies in the Premier League in England and Major League Soccer in the US, as well as many grassroots clubs around the world. It's user friendly for both teachers and children, and you can try it out for free.
This ready-made solution will prevent thousands of schools around the country from having to invest in costly coaching courses, and save the time it takes to reach levels of competency through institutional education.
To enquire about a holistic TopTekkers package for your school, contact sales@toptekkers.com.
Running a training session in PE
So TopTekkers covers the fundamental techniques, remote observation, homework, and competitive games, but what about older children who will benefit from a lesson more akin to a football training session? Teachers can't be expected to know how to run a different full age-appropriate session every week, can they?
To support new coaches, The Coaching Manual has put together the New Coaches Starter Pack, which contains all the information that teachers will need before delivering their first football training session.
The guide features a step-by-step guide to planning a training session, setting up a training session, reflecting on a training session, communicating effectively with children as players, and more. Download it for free here.
We can support you every step of your journey in football. Fill out the enquiry form below and we'll get back to you.