Manchester United coaches and former team legends made a special appearance Thursday with a group of schoolchildren at an exclusive training session organized by adidas as the latest in a series of nationwide events to promote ongoing grass-roots football in collaboration with China's Ministry of Education.

Last year, adidas established a landmark three-year partnership with the ministry in a bid to accelerate the development of school football and inspire lifelong physical activity and involvement in the sport from an early age. It has pledged to support the ministry in training 20 million students in 20,000 schools through regular gym classes and student training camps, including providing a free curriculum app, products, trainer resources and global assets.

"We are involved in grass-roots football on three different levels. First level is nationwide support of the development of the curriculum of football education in the schools in China. On the second level we are supporting the nationwide annual summer and winter training camps for students. What is even more important is that we reach as many kids as we can and therefore developed the third level, which is the development of a so-called football app whereby we showcase all the skill sense and all capabilities you need to know as a young football player on how to develop these skills. It's a visual platform, completely for free. adidas offers it, and there you can see all the moves. You can practice back home, in the schoolyard and wherever you'd like to practice. Those three levels we believe are the right approach for adidas in China," Max van den Doel, senior director for football and Olympic sports at adidas Group Greater China, told the Global Times.

In its first year, the program has already succeeded in reaching over 5,000 schools nationwide, training more than 7,000 PE teachers and supporting over 600 kids in the ministry's winter and summer training camps.

"Events such as today's star-studded training session provide an invaluable means for students to learn from and interact with some of the very best names in global football. We're delighted to have two such names - adidas and Manchester United - here today to join our effort to nurture the talent and enthusiasm of youngsters throughout our city," said Ding Li, director of physical, health and art education for the Shanghai Education Commission.

Shanghai is home to some of the most successful football teams and grass-roots initiatives in China and is increasingly seen as a model city for the development of football nationwide. Ding released a series of figures of the development of school football in Shanghai.

"Among 1,600 primary and middle schools in Shanghai, nearly 400 of them have joined Shanghai School Football League (SSFL). There are nearly 20,000 students registered as athletes in SSFL. We have also set up 93 elite training camps, and nearly 3,000 students are participating more than twice a week," Ding said.

By setting up these elite camps and all other football-related activities, Ding said, the government aims to expand the base and middle section of the football player pyramid, turning out a large number of future mathematicians, physicians, architects and other professionals who are football fans and also nurturing some very good professional football players.

Taking part in the event were a total of 20 students from grades three to four from Rihui Xincun Primary in Xuhui district. The children were put through their paces in an intensive training session led by internationally acclaimed youth football trainer Tom Byer, Manchester United Football Schools coaches and Manchester United ambassadors Dwight Yorke and Denis Irwin.

As parents and teachers looked on, the children brushed up on basics in a series of mini lessons designed to help them improve their skills as well as become more confident and relaxed with the ball. The students also got the opportunity to meet and talk to Yorke and Irwin and have their photographs taken with these legends along with the actual 2016 English FA Cup won by Manchester United.

"To be a football player you need to develop technical skills. Those are the basics. If you don't master those, you can't become a football player. So you have to work on the basics like what we were practicing a little bit here today," Byer told the Global Times. 

He has coached over half a million children throughout Asia for the last 20 years and is the coach behind the curriculum app.

"This curriculum was specifically designed to support the Ministry of Education school football program. We are hoping that we can use this app to encourage and develop players throughout China," said Byer.

The curriculum was designed and broken up into different levels. It teaches things such as changing and turning, all key components to be a professional football player. Users of the app can slow it down, stop it, freeze it, change the angle and really see how the technical moves go down.

"It's basically one player, one ball. You can keep repeating and going back to the app, look at it and imitate it and learn skills. Everybody that sees it and finds it likes it. They think it is useful because football skills or technical skills are just imitating. It's step by step," said Byer.

"Repetition is the very key to success, and who knows, if you master all the skills on this app you too may play like the superstar."



 

Manchester United legends Denis Irwin and Dwight Yorke coach Chinese students at a training session in Shanghai Thursday.

 

Ambassadors, coaches and students take a group photo with the 2016 English FA Cup trophy. Photos: Courtesy of adidas

 
Newspaper headline: Kicking it with the kids