It’s been a busy few weeks in and around Oamaru!

The Football South development team has been visiting the area and running roadshows and workshops that have covered all aspects of the game including players, coaches, and referees.

In the last six weeks, we’ve had an incredible 569 young footballers involved in our Football in Schools sessions. Football in Schools offers children a great opportunity to get active through football and develop key fundamental skills in a fun environment. Our team had loads of fun running these sessions at St Josephs Primary & Intermediate, Pembroke School, Weston School, and Ardgowan School.

Another 64 youngsters had a ball at our McDonalds First Kicksprogramme. First Kicks is a programme for boys & girls as young as 4 years old to discover the game, and sees them learning basic fundamental movement skills with an aim to create positive and fun football experiences.

Both Football in Schools and First Kicks are part of New Zealand Football’s National Player Development Framework.

We also had more than 30 coaches put through the NZF Junior Coaching Level 1 Award, Community-Based Referee, and Introduction to Goalkeeping courses.

A big thank you to Football Waitaki chair Andy Lane, who helped with organising everything. We would also like to extend our thanks to Esteban Erdody who helped with the successful delivery of Football in Schools as part of work experience. Esteban’s efforts and commitment throughout the roadshows was fantastic!