A council asked us for a coaching week before an interschool competition. A hundred and ten children turned up on the first morning, which was thirty more than anybody had estimated.
Five days, two coaches, groups of twelve on a sand pitch. Half the week was the same foundation work we do here, because the level was exactly what you would expect of children who play a great deal of football and have never been coached: brave, quick, and with no idea what to do without the ball.
The part that mattered was the two evenings with the three teachers who were going to run it after we left. We went through a term of session plans, the group sizes, and the two habits we wanted them to keep: everybody plays, nobody queues. They have run it for two years.
The school reached the semi final of the competition, which the council mentions and we do not, because a hundred and ten children still training eighteen months later is the actual result.
We were asked twice during the week whether we would take two of the boys back to Hulhumale with us. We said no, and we would say no again.
