McDonald's makes a difference to sport (From Penarth Times)

McDonald's makes a difference to sport

ON-the-ball South West Wales AM Alun Cairns scored for his local school when he won them ten new footballs in a McDonald's Keepy Uppy fundraising challenge at this year's FA Community Shield.

Mr Cairns won ten balls for Murch Junior School as part of McDonald's drive with the Football Association to give more children access to organised football coaching.

McDonald's has set up a four-year programme with the FA to train 8,000 new community coaches.

Now in its third year, more than 4,000 new coaches have benefited from the scheme, which offers anyone the chance to train to become a qualified junior coach for free.

The campaign is spearheaded in by Sir Geoff Hurst MBE, McDonald's director of Scottish Football.

Sir Geoff said: ""It is vitally important that we take every opportunity to give children the chance to play football and learn from qualified coaches." McDonald's is the Football Association of Wales Trust (FAW Trust)'s Community Partner.

McDonald's is working with the FAW Trust to recruit and train volunteers from the community and from its own ranks of employees to become qualified football coaches, as part of the McDonald's/FAW Trust Primary Schools Accreditation Scheme.

The scheme acts as a charter mark for schools.

In order for a school to achieve accreditation, teachers must be trained to coach football, volunteers recruited and after-school clubs for boys and girls set up.

Together, McDonald's and the FAW Trust aim to create 480 new qualified community coaches and deliver 75,000 more hours of football coaching to primary school youngsters across Wales by 2006.