The Premier League has backed a new Government plan to invest in primary school sport.
The Prime Minister David Cameron has pledged £150m a year to improve coaching for the youngest pupils in every state primary school and to inspire the Olympic and Paralympic stars of the future and is allowing the schools to decide how their budget is spent.
"Premier League clubs do great work at the heart of their communities, especially with young people and in schools"
Richard Scudamore
The government’s plan foresees a greater role for Britain’s best sporting and voluntary organisations, including national governing bodies, in increasing the specialist coaching and skills development on offer for primary schools. Sport England will invest £1.5m a year of lottery funding through the County Sport partnerships to help primary schools link up with local sports coaches, clubs and sports governing bodies.
Since all 20 Premier League clubs are closely involved with schools in their communities, sending coaches to help children, they could benefit from this new plan.
"Premier League clubs do great work at the heart of their communities, especially with young people and in schools,” Richard Scudamore, the Chief Executive of the Premier League, said. “Today’s commitment from the Government to invest in school sport should be welcomed and celebrated by anyone involved in sport at any level. High-quality multi-sport coaching delivered by bodies like Premier League clubs means that more schoolchildren will get the benefits that sport, as part of their education, delivers. We are looking forward to doing our bit."
The Prime Minister said: "The Olympic and Paralympic Games marked an incredible year for this country and I will always be proud that we showed the world what Britain can do. I want to ensure the Games count for the future too and that means capitalising on the inspiration young people took from what they saw during those summer months.
"With this new approach to sport, we can create a culture in our schools that encourages all children to be active and enjoy sport, and helps foster the aspirations of future Olympians and Paralympians.”
Double Olympic champion Mo Farah CBE said: "It is great to see a commitment to funding school sport and that it is something I passionately believe in. I am very excited to know that lots of children will be able to get involved in sport while at school and get more help from teachers and coaches. It really is very important."
