The Oman Football Association (OFA) and Fifa launched the Fifa Football for Schools Project in the Sultanate of Oman at Seeb Stadium on Thursday. As many as 100 kids from across Oman took part in the festival, which was held in the presence of Antonio Buenaño, Manager, FIFA Football for Schools and more than 20 sports educators including eight women representing nine various governorates.
The main objective of the Football For Schools project in Oman is to promote life skills through football in schools around the world. “The program is mainly to combine football with life skills. It is a very unique programme as it not only improves the technical skills but also life skills in daily life. During the last two days, the sports teachers attended a series of theoretical and practical sessions. The educators went into classrooms to understand more on the philosophy and methodology of the program,” Buenaño said.
Schools remain the most effective and efficient avenue in which to engage young people in sport. Fifa’s Football for Schools is run in collaboration with UNESCO and aims to contribute to the education, development and empowerment of some 700 million children worldwide.
“ All the participants learned how to use the app available in Oman. The app is available in all the phone devices and it is an online learning platform with relevant content for program stakeholders. Later, the teachers came to the pitch on how to manage the practical sessions under Fifa supervision through the technical team. The practical was the main part of the programme to ensure the educators who are the ambassadors of the Fifa are well known about the programme, the app and the required technical skills,” he said.
“ This is part of Fifa's support to OFA to popularise football among kids in the country. As part of the Football for Schools programme, the OFA will receive 2,820 footballs to be distributed to schools. We will support the master trainers (ambassadors) who are in charge of delivering the training session across the country. Then, following six months, we will do analysis by doing a proper evaluation process to decide on the following step. There is a developed evaluation and monitoring platform to track the development of the programme country wise," he said
"Oman has a strong football infrastructure and this will ease the process of implementing this programme across the country. I am confident this program will help many children to play football and develop their life skills and values. I would like to thank the Oman Football Association and the Ministry of Education who have been excellent partners throughout the implementation of the Football for Schools programme,” Buenaño said.
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