The FA Cup Schools Day Blog

FA County Football Festival

tonyadams — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 13:59:00 GMT

I’m in Nottingham today, celebrating E.ON National FA Cup Schools Day.

After a fun morning taking part in FA Cup themed lessons, I’m now at Southglade Leisure Centre, where 300 children are taking part in a FA County football festival, one of 71 taking place around the country this afternoon. The children are getting some really valuable football coaching and tuition from FA coaches and seem to be having a great time!

Charlton Ladies players Katie Holtham and Natasha Hughes are here coaching too. They’ll both be playing in The FA Women’s Cup Final against Arsenal in Nottingham on May 7th and are really generating a lot of excitement here with the children.

We all had a go at Shoot the O too! I’m afraid to say it took me a few attempts before I got lucky, but the children were outstanding! It goes to show that all the coaching is paying off!

It’s great to see that E.ON and The FA are giving so much attention to grass roots football, ensuring that the next generation not only learns about the heritage of The FA Cup but also provides the opportunity for children to take part in festivals like this one.

I’ve no doubt that E.ON National FA Cup Schools Day will grow and grow in popularity, I’m already looking forward to next year, and judging by the look on the faces of the children here, they are too!

Whittington Church of England Primary School

Whittington Primary School — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 10:24:00 GMT

Whittington Church of England (VA) Primary School has been chosen to provide a mascot for the FA cup Final on the 19th May! There is a buzz of excitement throughout the school. To celebrate 'E.ON National FA Cup Schools Day' we have all worn our favourite football tops to school.

We are all taking part in various activities throughout the day such as a football match at dinnertime between Years 5 and 6 and also activities from the FA pack.

This afternoon we are having a special assembly where we will draw the winning child who is to goto Wembley as a mascot! All the local press will be there and there will be an assembly about the magic of the FA Cup!

Celebrating the first E.ON National FA Cup Schools Day

tonyadams — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 09:08:00 GMT

This morning I’m at Northgate Primary School in Nottingham, celebrating the very first E.ON National FA Cup Schools Day.

It’s great news to hear that over 300,000 children around the country are taking part in today’s activities, celebrating the history and excitement of the most famous cup knockout competition, and having played in three FA Cup Finals myself, I can truly understand why the day will be so much fun for them!

The classrooms here are decked out in FA Cup bunting and inflatable trophies, and the children are really excited.

They’ll be enjoying FA Cup themed lessons as well as taking part in physical activities including mini FA Cup tournaments and football fitness games, which I’m looking forward to helping out with.

This afternoon I’ll be having a kick about with the kids at a football festival too, but you can read more about that in my second blog later today.

I’d better get back to The FA Cup lessons now, so good luck to everybody taking part in E.ON National FA Cup Schools Day today, have fun!

Today's the day

E.ON UK — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 07:23:00 GMT

Months of preparation and E.ON National FA Cup Schools Day is finally here. We have been working hard to ensure that many schools are involved and I am really excited that nearly 3,000 primary schools across the country will be taking part.

We have been working closely with The FA to ensure the activities fit with the overall schools programme and I think the activity pack looks great. There are lots of ways that schools can get involved so hopefully, many children will be inspired by what I think is the best football competition in the world.

I am also very excited that we have Tony Adams joining us today at a school in Nottingham and then at a festival this afternoon. Tony is a true football legend and his pedigree in The FA Cup is fantastic. I will be looking forward to finding out more about how he is still involved in the game and what inspiration he can give to the children.

I will be interested to find out from teachers and children about how they have been involved with the day and how we can build on its success for next year. I will write more later when I have seen some of the schools in action but I hope that there will be lots of great stories I can share from around the country.