The three-day intensive training is taking place at the Charles J.Dempsey Academy in Penrose and the participants are being equipped with skills they need to expand the initiative even further, following a successful pilot phase.
Through funding support from the Australian Government, the course is benefiting 16 participants from seven Pacific nations – Cook Islands, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu.
OFC head of social responsibility Franck Castillo and Just Play consultant Vania Kenning are overseeing the course, which is being lead by OFC technical coordinator Colin Tuaa, with assistance from fellow technical department members Emmie Sope, Patrick Jacquemet and Didier Chambaron.
“The objective is to train the member association staff to deliver the Just Play programme in their own countries,” Tuaa says.
“I think the first objective is to make sure the member association staff know how to teach the programme themselves. Then the second step is for them to start training new people in about six months’ time.”
The first day of the course was spent largely in the classroom but the participants will get plenty of chances to put what they have learned into practice over the next two days.
“Today has just been about making sure they understand what Just Play is, the philosophy behind it and why we’re implementing the programme. That is the key thing and then we will just run through the programme itself.”
One of the participants taking part is Commins Menapi, a Solomon Islands international, who is in charge of making sure Just Play goes smoothly in the football-mad nation.
The programme was launched in the Solomons earlier this year and Menapi says it has been greeted with much enthusiasm by the children.
“One of the things we have found is that if the teachers say to the kids, ‘If you don’t go to school, no football for you’, then everyone goes to school. Everyone has found it really enjoyable – they love it.”
Although he is an accomplished footballer himself, Menapi is looking forward to picking up a few more tips this week.
“I have never done a course like this before so I think I will learn a lot,” he says.
Just Play has already been launched in most of the countries involved in the coaching course and those who haven’t seen it in action first-hand are looking forward to getting in on the act.
The Cook Islands Football Association (CIFA) will receive a visit from OFC staff in February to help launch Just Play and technical director Jimmy Katoa is right behind the initiative.
“We have run grassroots programmes in the past but a lot of the teachers relied on us to go and do it. This programme will actually teach them to do it themselves,” he says.
“That’s good because, at the end of the day, you want to leave a legacy for the schools as well. The teachers need to be able to carry on the programme without us having to visit.”
Just Play is a unique grassroots programme which promotes physical activity for primary-aged children while encouraging community involvement and healthy living.
Developed by the OFC social responsibility and technical departments, Just Play was launched in Vanuatu in April and has since been introduced in Tonga, Samoa, Tahiti, Solomon Islands and South Auckland in New Zealand.
Next on the agenda are Fiji and Cook Islands while OFC is also currently working in New Zealand with Special Olympics (NZ) on a Just Play programme for people with mental disabilities.
OFC is working closely with the Government of Australia – through its agencies the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) and the Australian Sports Commission (ASC) – and Football Federation Australia (FFA) to roll out the programme across the Pacific. The Australian Government has shown its support to the project by contributing AU$4million.
In South Auckland, Just Play is supported by OFC’s partnership with the Sir John Walker Find Your Field of Dreams Foundation, Counties Manukau Sport and Auckland Football Federation.