The FA have recently produced a plan to improve top level the performance of football in the country, including that of the national team. Part of it refers to how the team will be coached. This will be “as far as possible” through the medium of games, and with an aspiration of 70% “ball rolling” time. Whilst these concepts are not unlike those of other National Governing Bodies , this is a relatively radical – maybe novel - attempt to define proportions.

This is presumably because these two qualities – games and “ball-rolling” times – are regarding as characteristics...

Too much winning, or losing, is not good for children. In more rational moments, most teachers and coaches agree with this. The theory is sometimes better than the practice, however, when good sense is suspended in moments of high emotion on the touchline.

Perhaps more significant then, is competitiveness. A contest where the result is in doubt, certainly before the game, and, ideally, into the final quarter. Opinion is fairly consistent that this is one of the characteristics of that elusive "good game". The purpose of fixture making is to seek competitiveness - uncertainty...

Lots of educational planning focuses on “outcomes”. Desirable changes that result from programmes of planned experiences. Given the time and effort that goes into such planning, from the National Curriculum to individual school syllabuses, it is perhaps disappointing that the range of aspiration is so limited.

Typically, the dominant ambition is skill development. Laudible though this is, this is only a limited part of the potential impact of physical activity and games. Neither is it often at the top of the list of things that research suggests that children value about the subject. Knowledge is another ambition, but frequently...