Use tnfive.co.uk to gain qualifications and address Ofsted concerns

Find out how TN5 can enhance your students' learning experience and improve your delivery of PE

In February 2013, Ofsted published 'Beyond 2012 - Outstanding physical education for all' (read report) raising significant questions and issues relating to the current delivery of physical education in schools. The benefits of engaging in, organising, and leading sports related activities are clearly highlighted and should be part of every young persons schooling.

Contrary to assumptions it doesn't have to be costly or time consuming to meet these challenges.

Using the FREE website TN5 addresses many of the issues raised by Ofsted. Below are some comments from the Ofsted report, along with examples of how TN5 can easily be used to address them.

Ofsted Comments

Using TN5

Primary Schools ‘Pupils’ achievement and enjoyment of school, including their personal development and well-being, were enhanced significantly by opportunities to train as playground buddies and junior sports leaders’. 'The quality of the PE curriculum was good or outstanding in over three quarters of schools visited.......They provided a wide range of after-school clubs and inter-school competitions'. 'The impact of school sports partnerships in maximising participation and increasing regular competition was clearly evident.......but only a few primary schools.....played competitive situations'

TN5 gives young people the opportunity to organise and run their own league and competition. When delivered as part of a Young Leaders Award it gives young people a qualification and a real head start in Sports Leadership. TN5 is ideal as an after-school club with a friendly competitive element to keep the young people engaged. The flexibility of mixing the teams means that young people can not only play against, but also WITH other schools in inter-school competitions. The structure of TN5 allows or competitive sport in a friendly environment, with and against colleagues. The changes to team line ups mean it is competitive and inclusive for all regardless of ability.

The report goes on to cover Physical Education in secondary schools

Ofsted Comments

Using TN5

Secondary Schools ‘Pupils’ achievement and enjoyment, and their personal development and well-being were enhanced significantly by opportunities to gain qualifications in sports leadership, coaching and refereeing, and organising sport for others’. ‘In some lessons, tasks were not challenging enough, time to practise and improve skills was too short and there were too few opportunities to select and apply newly acquired skills in competitive situations’. ‘Sports enrichment was central to the ethos of most schools visited and led to extensive provision of after-school clubs, inter-school competitions, and training for sports leadership’.

TN5 can easily link with a number of Sports Leadership qualifications (see Qualifications on the Teachers and Coaches page of tnfive.com). As young people organise their own competition it gives them the ideal opportunity to develop leadership skills, organise others and experience refereeing, whilst engaging in the sport themselves. TN5 allows young people to participate in friendly competition with their friends and peers. And it doesn’t need to cut into PE lessons. A TN5 lunchtime or after-school club is ideal for providing young people the opportunity to practice their skills in a structured competition, with minimal supervision required. Tn5 is ideal as an after-school club with a  friendly competitive element to keep the young people engaged. The flexibility of mixing the teams means that young people can not only play against, but also WITH other schools in inter-school competitions.

TN5 can also help students to develop and demonstrate the skills required for industry recognised qualifications, including:

• Young Leaders Award for 9-13 year olds
• Level 1 and Level 2 Awards in Sports Leadership and Certificate/Diploma in Sport and Active Leisure
• Post-16 Level 3 Qualification in Higher Sports Leadership

Further information on how TN5 can help students work towards these and other qualifications is available at www.tnfive.co.uk in the Teachers and Coaches section.

So why not start a league of your school, college or sports team students today and let TN5 help you to deliver engaging, competitive lessons today?

Go to the www.tnfive.co.uk homepage to sign up.

TN5 website undergoing exciting changes

The new five a side is almost ready for re-launch!

You may think you know the tnfive website inside out, but not for much longer! The website is undergoing some exciting new developments that will see the design of the site changed completely. 

The new site will be aimed at children and young people with a view to them setting up their own leagues in schools and colleges. The students of Leeds City College, England are already using TN5 to help them work towards their coaching qualification in 'Leadership Through Football' and are enjoying it immensely. 

In addition to the Coaches and Teachers page, there will also be a Player Zone with advice on improving your game, health and fitness tips and competitions. The first competition upon launch will be a 'Name the Game' comp - your chance to come up with an original name for the video game that will feature on the homepage of the website! When the site is launched, users will be able to challenge players from all around the world to be top of the leaderboard. Keep a lookout for news on the competition in the next couple of months - maybe YOU will have the honour of naming 'The Game With No Name'?

Leeds City College uses TN5 to deliver Leadership Through Football qualification

Find out how TN5 is enriching the game for Leeds students

Leeds City College has a wide variety of sports courses and sporting opportunities available to its students. Through the Academy for Sport, students have access to some of the best facilities, coaches and tutors available.

As part of their Leadership Through Football course, Leeds City College has been using TN5 as an engaging and innovative way for students to achieve the qualifications. In order to gain the qualification, students are required to:

• Lead football activity sessions
• Referee football activity sessions and small-sided games
• Work with small-sided teams in football
• Contribute to the organisation and delivery of a football event for young people

Using TN5 contributes to all of these elements, providing a great format that students enjoy and engage with whilst developing their leadership skills.

Pav Singh, Football Tutor at Leeds City College and also Leeds United Under 14's coach, is using TN5 with his students. 'Our current sports students have been using the TN5 game format as part of their 'Leadership Through Football' coaching course. TN5 has given them the opportunity to organise their own league and matches and they have all really enjoyed competing against one another. As an FA Futsal Tutor I have incorporated TN5 into our course curriculum and I use it to help deliver new and exciting Futsal drills. We hope that our students will go on to pass their technical and tactical abilities as well as their valuable organisational skills to local kids at grassroots football level. Hopefully we might have the next Ronaldo or Messi in the making'.

Anthony Gallagher, Sports Academy Manager, agrees. 'Since using TN5, the students have really engaged in the Leadership Through Football coaching course. Not only are they developing great coaching and leadership skills and working towards an industry recognised qualification, the students love the competitive element that TN5 brings to their studies. Each and every student is striving to be successful both in their studies and in their TN5 league'.

You can find out more about the great sport and other qualifications available at Leeds City College at http://www.leedscitycollege.ac.uk/index.php/football-academy/

Ex-Premier League Player Brian Deane Supports TN5

The former England international and current Norwegian Top Division Manager shares his views on The New Five A-Side

Brian Deane, the fans' favourite and first ever goal scorer in the English Premier League, has had a long and successful footballing career. Playing for teams such as Sheffield Utd, Leeds Utd and Benfica, as well as England,  Brian retired from playing in 2006. Since then, Brian has continued to be heavily involved in the game going on to establish his International Academy for Football and Education (IAFE), supporting great initiatives such as 'Kick Racism Out of Football' and The Princes Trust, and has now taken his first role in football management with Sarpsborg 08 in the Norwegian top flight.

Brian became interested in TN5 during its developmental stages and has been supportive of The New Five A-Side and its aims ever since. 'I am passionate about young footballers learning important life skills and working towards recognised qualifications whilst playing a game they love, and TN5 provides an opportunity for this. It's a great new approach to the game of 5 a-side that can be used by players of all different footballing abilities. Young people have the chance to organise their own league of friends or classmates and compete against each other in a safe, friendly environment learning valuable skills like leading, officiating and organising along the way'.

TN5 is the perfect way to engage young people in the sport. Running and organising their own league helps them to develop valuable skills that can often contribute towards attaining formal qualifications. The competitive format of short, sharp games and their own league of friends and classmates maintains their interest and will to succeed. This appeals to Brian who adds, 'Sport teaches young people many skills and TN5 enhances the development of organizational and leadership skills for their future lives. Competing in a friendly environment helps to develop the resilience that will serve them well in adulthood'.

You can read about Brian's work with The International Academy for Football and Education at www.footballandeducation.com and you can follow him on Twitter@deanobri1968.

TN5 and @Futsal Leeds Exclusive 5 A-Side Tournaments

Try Futsal - No experience necessary!

Take advantage of an excellent opportunity to try out Futsal - the only FIFA recognised game of small sided football! Futsal is the game that the likes of Lionel Messi grew up playing, so why not give it a go yourself?

On Wednesday 24^th October 2012, www.tnfive.com and @Futsal are offering an hour’s pitch hire for the fantastic price of only £30 – a saving of over 35% on usual prices! The offer is available at the Leeds International @Futsal Arena near the White Rose Centre. Staff will be on hand to provide pre-match guidance and a run-down of the rules, so no previous playing experience is necessary.

All you need to do is email enquiries@tnfive.comwith your preferred pitch time and you and up to 15 mates can play each other in your own mini tournament!

(Pitch hire is payable on the night to @Futsal). Hurry! Availability is limited so book now to avoid disappointment! *

*Remaining available pitch times are: 6pm; 7pm; 8pm and 9pm.

I Tried The New 5 A-Side And I Liked It!

Read how TN5 made this player's casual 5 a-side football game a whole lot more interesting.....

By Wayne Spratt

Booting up for TN5

Casual 5 a-side. It's a bit like Marmite. You either love it, or you think it's a total waste of space. Fair enough, after all there are plenty of reasons for hating it. You turn out every week in the wind and rain to be faced with the same scenario: run around non-stop for an hour until you've practically dissolved into a wheezing, panting pool of sweat; watch in horror as your side desperately try to claw back goals as the opposing team steam to a 15-nil victory; and to top it off, you're a man down because one of your so-called 'teammates' dropped out at the last minute to 'babysit' (cheers mate!). Yes, we've all been there, done that and bought the t-shirt.

So, I think I can be forgiven for hesitating at the chance to try out TN5, 'The New 5 A-Side'. I mean, how can it be any different to the 'old 5 a-side'? Surely you can't reinvent the wheel as it were? Well, not one to shy away from a challenge, this season I threw caution to the wind and accepted the invitation to sign up to www.tnfive.com with 15 of my mates and colleagues. Together we formed a 'pool' of players going by the name of TNF (Thursday Night Football).

Unlike 'normal' 5 a-side, TN5 uses a 3-team format - and no, that's not 3 teams on the pitch at once! There are 2 teams on and one off (hooray for the chance of a rest, that's what I say). Games are short and sharp, only 6 minutes in length, or first to 2 goals, then the winning team stay on the pitch to play the team that was resting, erm I mean, spectating. At the end of the night, the team who had the most wins are that match day's winners.

Yes that's me in the background, looking forward to my next chance to rest.....I mean spectate.

The bit I like best is the fact that each week, all the available players from the 'pool' are randomly placed into one of 3 teams by the 'randomiser' on the website. This means that one week I can be on Col's team (no offence mate but you're a bit crap) and the next I could be on Stu's team - yes that's Stu who was separated at birth from Lionel Messi. All this swapping and changing means that not only do I get to play alongside a different bunch of mates each week, but I also stand a good chance of being on the winning team!

Whites v Blues

Which brings me nicely on to the league table. Each match day the individual players on the overall winning team are given points which then build up over the season to create an overall TN5 Champion. It's early days yet but I've been on the winning team 3 times so far so I'd like to think I'm still in the running. It does give me the incentive to turn up to every match so that I don't fall behind in the league. However, if my company CEO does insist on my presence at dinner at 8pm one Thursday night I know that one of my mates  from the 'pool' of 15 of us will fill in for me. Great for the team, not so great for me. Joking! I love you really boss!

Seriously though, the 'pool' of players does generally mean that you can get a meaningful competitive game, even if you're a couple of players short. This week for example, we had 3 lads drop out at the last minute for 'babysitting' duties (yeah right, it was raining and probably minus 10 degrees out there!) but the 12 of us who did turn up had a cracking game of 5 a-side using 2 'guest' players from the team who were off the pitch. If that had been a traditional 5 a-side scenario, we would have been completely snookered with 3 men down. With TN5 you can still get a good game even if there's only 9 of you - a 4v4 format with the 9th man acting as ref/guest player - thus eliminating the need for that magic number 10.

Reds v Blues with a 'guest' player from the whites. I'm refereeing and spectating on the sidelines

The guy who runs our pool of players reckons it's been much easier to organise us lot using the free TN5 website. Luckily for him, the site allows the Manager to post the time, date and venue of the next match day and then it emails all the players in the pool with those details. Then, it's down to us lot to set our availability status for the game so that he knows who's coming down on the night. After that, all he has to do is randomise the teams with the click of a button, and Bob's yer uncle the website automatically emails us to let us know which team we're on and what colour top or bib to wear. Easy.

So, my journey to the top of our 'pool' league table has begun and come the end of the season I fully anticipate being crowned my pool's overall TN5 Champion, and I will plan to celebrate accordingly. Not sure what the rest of them will have to say about that seeing as I'm sure they all reckon they'll be top man too. Well, I'm prepared to fight them for the TN5 crown, so bring it on!

Dreams of being TN5 Champion

TN5 Teams Up With Leeds International @Futsal Arena To Bring You A Discount Of Over 35%

Fantastic opportunity to try out Futsal using the TN5 match format

Come down to this brand new arena equipped with Hi-Tech Futsal flooring, electronic scoreboards, changing rooms,  showers and bar area, and try Futsal with your mates or colleagues. Staff will be on hand to explain the rules and get you started, so what are you waiting for? Invite your mates today. Places are limited for the exclusive launch night so act quickly to secure your pitch and benefit from the great discount offer!