New Maccabi coaching deal will increase sport in schools
MACCABI GB will be doing its best to nurture future Olympians by increasing its role in PE and sports in Jewish schools.
It has agreed a partnership with a leading provider of sports coaching, the Elm Group.
Neil Taylor, Maccabi GB’s head of sport and community partnerships, said the Elm link would see “more Jewish children play more sport more often”.
Ten Jewish primary schools in London will now use Maccabi for PE and sports clubs this year and the number of children on soccer pitches, netball courts and playing other games will rise by 500 to 2,200 each week.
Maccabi’s aim is to reach all Jewish primary schools in London and the north of England.
Elm, Mr Taylor said, had “some fantastically high-level qualified coaches who we can use in schools”.
Barbara Moss, chief executive of Elm, said “all Jewish children deserve, and should expect, the highest quality of sports provision within their schools, fostering not only a great love of physical activity but developing the social skills and lifetime friendships that arise from sports participation”.
According to the government’s antiobesity plan, primary school children should enjoy an hour of “moderate to vigorous” physical activity a day, with at least half an hour coming through PE, sports events and clubs at school.
Martin Berliner, Maccabi chief executive, said in the wake of the Rio Olympics, “now is the perfect time and opportunity for young people to play sport at a higher level of provision”.
Three of the 10 schools using Maccabi are Charedi — Lubavitch Boys, Torah Temimah and Talmud Torah Tiferes Shlomoh. Mr Taylor said that over the next five years Maccabi hoped to extend its sports presence to many more Charedi schools.