New kids activities helps parents with coaching skills

BT has launched Coaching for Life, a free online programme designed to help parents, grandparents, carers and older siblings improve their coaching skills for 6 - 11 year olds through a series of new children's games.

Coaching for Life has variations on popular games online, which parents and carers can use with children to add to their coaching skills. There is also an easy-to-use online Resource Pack featuring effective coaching tips written by experts to help adults develop the confidence, skills and performance of children in a fun way. There are also twelve 'how to' videos available online to help children learn new games.

Coaching for Life includes twelve flexible games; Two Touch Football, Dribble & Score, Up & Down Cones, Dribble Tag, Three against Two, Capture, Mini Hockey, Over the Line, Rapid, Shootout, Continuous Cricket, Step by Step (Tennis) and Team Tag. The resource is part of the Communication, Collaboration and Citizenship strand of Get Set the official London 2012 education programme.

Donna Young, BT's general manager for corporate responsibility programme development, said: "These resources, provided by BT, challenge adults to use their communication skills in a positive way and enable parents and carers to capture the excitement of the London 2012 Games to make playtime with young people more enjoyable. As a sustainability partner to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, BT is helping to make a lasting contribution and giving those who care for children new skills opportunities with the Coaching for Life programme."

The Coaching for Life programme encourages parents and carers to help children try different games, and at the same time introducing them to key coaching principles they can adopt, which embrace the Olympic and Paralympic Values to help young people get better at anything. The games in this module are flexible; they can be adapted for use with young people and for those with disabilities.

Coaching for Life is the first nation-wide BT London 2012 education programme to be launched, others will follow later this year.