A Day In The Life…..At Leyton Orient Community Sports Project...At Clapton High School For Girls And Leyton Orient F.C

If you've read the article on the Leyton Orient Community Sport's Programme (LOSCP) you probably want to know exactly what went on, how do they get people to learn through football? It's not possible to play football and learn stuff for school, is it? Well, I went down for the day and met up with Education Officer, Phil Rudling and was taken to a series of their activity programmes they run around the Leyton and Waltham Forest Borough's in the East End of London... and I had a great time.

There was soooo much going on, that it was not possible to see all the activities in action. There's 13 staff down there and a whole host of different programmes are happening throughout the day. For example they were:

• Running a three-day Football coaching session for the children of the workers at the Ford Car Manufacturing Plant.

• Taking a Football skills teaching session for teenagers living on one of the local Council Estates.

• Coaching a Girls only Football session for 7-12 year olds.

It was not possible to see the extent of the work they do in one day, so I chose a couple of cool things to have a look at.

Firstly a tour of the Leyton Orient F.C. ground from one of the staff at the LOCSP, which was arranged for a group of disabled teenagers. Although maybe not the most glamorous club in the Football League these days, it's always incredibly exciting to take a look around the place where a team plays football every week, like Leyton Orient. I really enjoyed it and the guys with me did as well, as we saw that a Football club is not merely a place where football is played but is a busy vibrant place where a lot happens.

Next up was a Football coaching session at Clapton High School for Girls, that was to help out the new starters in Year 7 with writing and maths, before they start back at school. I popped my trainers and my shorts on and went down with Phil for an afternoon of Football in the sun. The girls, fresh from a Maths lesson were buzzing to get on with the games and races, but first things first, Phil took us through a warm-up and a series of skill exercises including:

• Passing and moving, to improve skills.

• Trying to get the ball back, when five people are passing it to each other and you're in the middle

• Teamwork exercises, helping each other out in a football situation.

• Ball control, helping co-ordination.

After that start, which everybody really enjoyed, we progressed on to what everybody was waiting for, the games and the races. This was a top laugh but also everybody seemed to be really in to it and got a lot out of it. The two main things we did were:

• Relay race with two teams competing to be the first around the track and score in the goal.

• A 5-aside mini-tournament, with 4 teams playing each other and the winners the ones who scored the most goals.

These games were competitive and some of the girls were very skillful, they made 'yours truly' look a bit of stupid. However at the end of the day, Phil was so cool and informal with the guys down there that there was no frayed tempers or arguments and everybody was friends at the end of the games, WHICH IS WHAT FOOTBALL SHOULD BE LIKE. We set off back to the office while the girls were full of energy and ready to tackle the next Maths lesson ahead of them.

This is just one typical day at the Leyton Orient Community Sports Programme and they really have a lot going on and to offer for the community and to London Youth Football. Through the football it seemed that the guys down there learnt:

• Teamwork

• Co-ordination

• Good Temperament

• Forward Planning

As well as getting a fun break from Maths, everyone was keen and eager when work came around as well as having had a good exercise. You see, you can learn a lot from Football.

FOR MORE INFO ON THE LOCSP AND THE PROGRAMME CURRENTLY RUNNING GOT TO: http://www.locsp.freeserve.co.uk

RING: 020 8556 5973, 020 8925 1230

by ChrisM