Early February saw England Men’s Team Manager Gareth Southgate visit pupils at Torriano Primary School in Camden (London) to launch the latest additions to the ‘Pokémon Futsal’ programme and leverage its partnership with Team England and The Football Association (The FA).
Southgate teamed up with a group of leading FA coaches to host a training session for kids from the school’s year five class and during the session the pupils trialled the new resources which can be downloaded directly from the website Mastertheball.com.
The session saw kids play a set of games from the Pokémon Futsal resources for 2022, while former England and Crystal Palace defender Southgate spoke about what 2022 will hold for the England men’s side and reinforced the beneficial role that futsal can play in developing football skills, as well as discussing the year ahead of the England national team.
Pupils were also gifted Pokémon gifts: including a special trading card featuring lead character Pikachu in an England shirt.
The educational and soccer skills based partnership initiative was promoted through PR, digital and social content led by an online video of the surprise school visit and masterclass which dropped on 8 February and sought to drive viewers online to mastertheball.com and find out more about The FA’s relationship with Pokémon Futsal.
The spearhead spot was supported by additional social content linked through the campaign hashtags #pokemonfutsal and #mastertheball.
Excited to hear more about these new futsal resources
Thanks for your support, boss! https://t.co/im3sOv1Nnm
— England Football (@EnglandFootball) February 8, 2022
“It’s amazing to see and hear about the passion for Pokémon Futsal. I’ve worked a lot in youth football and know how important futsal can be as a pathway for developing a young person’s football skills and confidence before they transition to the 11-a-side format,” commented Soutgate. “The new resources created by Pokémon and the FA will make futsal fun and engaging as well as offering a great opportunity to build confidence through small-sided games. I would encourage as many schools as possible to visit Mastertheball.com and learn more about Pokémon Futsal.”
Comment
Pokémon Futsal blends a set of futsal training games designed to to help schools introduce futsal to their kids and/or to prepare for the School Games (a national government-led initiative developed to deliver competitive school sport to all young people).
https://www.mastertheball.com/
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