New campaign includes content submitted by schools’ football players, teachers and coaches, showing the positive impact that playing grassroots football has had on their lives and experiences
The English Schools’ Football Association (ESFA) is set to launch a brand new and exciting online campaign this July, which sees the Association continuing to highlight the “15 Benefits of Schools’ Football” throughout the summer and on the lead up to the anticipated start of the 2020/21 season – potentially in November 2020.
The ESFA has been promoting what they consider to be the “15 Benefits of Schools’ Football” since 2018. Originally put together as a marketing tool to encourage even more schools to take part in National Cup competitions, the evidence that players, teachers, coaches, team managers and parents across England genuinely benefit from being involved in their own individual aspects of schools’ football has now led to the launch of a fully-fledged campaign based on the joy created by every-day schools’ football activity.
This new campaign will see a collection of videos, created from contributions from teachers, team managers and schools’ football players, released via the ESFA’s social media channels. These videos give an insight into each of the “15 benefits” and how they have directly impacted the life of each contributor; from helping teachers to form stronger bonds with pupils, to enabling school pupils to deal with stress and anxiety, and helping children feel like they “belong” by encouraging and enabling them to be a part of a team.
The ESFA received over 250 responses from school teachers and pupils wanting to contribute to the “15 Benefits” campaign. This means that the ESFA was not only able to gather some truly inspiring and, at times, heart-warming video content, but also now holds thousands of pieces of useful feedback directly from those individuals that schools’ football is created and maintained at the highest possible level for, season after season.
ESFA CEO, Andrea Chilton said “We are delighted to have received such positive feedback from those that schools’ football is created for. Their feedback absolutely validates the benefits which underpin ESFA activities andthe thoughts and feedback of individuals is truly inspirational. The ESFA is committed to consistently develop, govern and showcase the sport of football in schools and feedback like this provides us with both the means and the inspiration to do so. We believe that the “15 Benefits” campaign is a fantastic way to keep the spirit of schools’ football alive, despite the difficult times currently being faced by schools, sport and the country as a whole. We are hopeful that this campaign will allow us to keep the excitement of playing schools’ football fresh in the minds of participants as we head toward the 2020/21 season.”
Further information on the ESFA’s “15 Benefits” campaign will be released over the next six weeks via the ESFA’s social media channels and website.
The National Governing Body for Schools’ Football in England.