Football
The Targeted Sports Participation Growth Program developed by the Football Federation of Australia is titled Football Anytime.
Football Federation Australia has developed Telstra Football Anytime to provide children with a less structured packaging of the game, with a focus on fun and the chance to express their natural flair and ball skills.
The program is aimed at the six to 12 year old age group and provides an introduction to the game and opportunities to continue on the pathway to more formalised football participation.
Telstra Football Anytime allows children to play a “free” style of football in a flexible environment, with few rules and only basic coaching. Using basic equipment such as ball, witches hats, cones and bibs, games can be played on almost any surface and in any combination of players (for example 4 versus 4, 6 versus 6 and indoors or outdoors). Existing, more structured programs such as Rooball and Goalkick will provide the next step along the football pathway.
Football Anytime membership provides:
- six one-hour sessions of activities – including football-related motor skills games, basic skill instruction and games; and
- at the end of the program each participant receives a backpack containing a ball, witches hats, cones, bibs, a manual and other materials, enabling them to continue playing.
Local clubs and associations are involved in delivering and/or attending some or all of the sessions and provide information to participants on the next steps in the football pathway (for example, Rooball/Goalkick).
Football Anytime is delivered either at a community hub or in a schools program. The community hub model is delivered either on a weekday afternoon/night or a Saturday morning at a local football club or equivalent open space facility by a combination of paid staff and parent/career volunteers. The staff will be casual employees of FFA who have links with a local club or association. The afterschool component of Football Anytime utilises the same delivery mechanism as the community hub, the difference being that it is delivered on-site at a primary school.
More information about Football Anytime is at The Telstra Football Anytime Website
