by Richard Smart

    TOKYO, Nov. 13 (Xinhua) -- On a balmy autumn day in central Tokyo, around 60 children between the ages of four and 12 enter the grounds of an elementary school. They are not here to study, they are here to play football and learn social skills from four British coaches.

    As they arrive, the rapport between the children and the coaches at the Tokyo-based British Football Academy (BFA) is obvious. After the children have stood in an orderly line and waited for a ball, coach Simon Sanders, 29, dashes across the pitch chased by a mob of screaming elementary-school students trying to get the ball.

    After a warm-up exercise called "Star Wars," in which the children have to dribble a ball while avoiding shots from children and coaches on either side of the pitch, teaching ball awareness and giving them plenty of enjoyment, the children start practices which hone skills they will use both on and off the pitch.

    "All the coaching is done in English," Dave Callaghan, head coach at BFA, explained. He said this allowed the children to practice in an international, multilingual environment that included both Japanese and children of other nationalities.

    Watching the coaching, the children are clearly all having fun, screaming and laughing, but also learning to get along with each other and listen to their coaches. While they are learning about football and getting good exercise, they are also making friends, working together and maintaining discipline in a rewarding environment.

    Benefiting from the English-speaking environment, the children also learn social skills fast. While learning social skills in a classroom can often take months, or even years, on a football pitch, results can be seen much faster.

    "One key thing we do is to teach social skills such as being nice to your peers, sharing things and being nice to the adults around them," Callaghan said.

    "We try to get all the kids to do the same thing, obviously," he continued. "There is a Japanese saying, 'if you stand up like a nail you will be knocked down.' We don't do this; we just tweak the kids' behavior. We try to let them stay individuals and have fun while they also join in with the rest of the class."

    Beyond developing skills and a passion for football, the children clearly enjoy being in an international environment and developing team spirit, which is likely to help them later in life.

    The games the children use to practice their skills are kept relatively simple. They are explained in a visual manner, which means the children need to keep up and learn attention skills that are easily transferable to classroom situations.

    "The key thing with children is to keep demonstrations short," Callaghan observed. "But if there is a problem class, then before we start, we normally set ground rules and a minute-long penalty, for example, preventing them from playing games if they don't pay attention.

    "If a child is sitting and watching a game rather than participating, they normally learn to join in with the rest of the kids rather than messing about on their own."

    The BFA was established in 2004. It teaches 450 children between the ages of three and 15 in 20 sessions throughout the Kanto region per week.

Special report: Global News Day for Children