The Afonotele primary school became the first of six schools in the tiny island nation to kick off its Just Play programme this month following the successful staging of a two-day workshop by OFC Just Play technical coordinator Emmie Sope in Pago Pago during January.
The other five schools set to take part are Tafuna and Lupelele (both in Ili’ili), Alofau and Pita Tali Coleman (both Pago Pago) and Mt Alava (Vatia).
Afonotele teachers Herman Gaoteote and Setefano Umaga were part of the Pago Pago workshop and have thus been armed with the knowledge and equipment to begin implementing the Just Play programme.
After learning how to teach the skills and techniques of Just Play, they and the other workshop participants were issued with equipment bags containing the necessary gear, such as balls, cones, bibs and activity guides.
The launch of the programme at Afonotele had to be delayed due to bad weather and the children were raring to go by the time they were finally allowed on the field.
“All they want to do is play football right now,” Gaoteote noted.
Developed by the OFC social responsibility and technical departments, Just Play was launched in Tonga in 2009 and has since been introduced in Vanuatu, Tahiti, Solomon Islands, Cook Islands, Samoa, Papua New Guinea, Fiji and Auckland, New Zealand.
OFC will continue to work closely with UEFA, Football Federation Australia (FFA) and the Government of Australia – through its agencies the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) and the Australian Sports Commission (ASC) – to roll out the Just Play programme across the Pacific. The Australian Government has shown its support to the project by contributing AU$4million.
The confederation has also been working in New Zealand with Special Olympics (NZ) on a Just Play programme for people with mental disabilities and has launched the new initiative in Samoa and Fiji.
For more on American Samoa football go to www.ffas.as

Share