TOP Programmes in England
Introduction This assignment will attempt to discuss the TOP programmes. The assignment will focus on the programme within England. It will mostly concentrate on the main initiatives TOP Play and TOP Sport. Introduction to Top Programmes in England In 1992, The National Coaching Foundation devised an initiative called Champion Coaching. ... The TOP programmes are a series of linked and progressive schemes established by the Youth Sport Trust (YST). ... Furthermore, the emergence of the YST provided new pathways for youth sport through the TOP initiatives (Hylton et al, 2001). The aim of TOP programmes is to encourage community groups, sports clubs, schools and local authorities to work together to provide high quality sporting opportunities for young people aged eighteen months to eighteen years. The programmes endeavour to introduce thousands of children to sports they may have never tried. The programmes consist of three components; training, resources and equipment, which are designed to supply simple to understand, and accessible support to give children a fun, but high-class, introduction to sport. TOP Programmes were introduced to support the national curriculum for physical education as an additional resource for teachers. ... They were launched in 1996, initially with only TOP Play and TOP Sport. The YST hoped that the introduction of TOP Play and TOP Sport would provide a national profile and platform from which it could be argued that physical education should become a core subject in primary schools (Campbell, 1997). TOP Play aims to support four to nine year olds as they acquire and develop essential core skills such as throwing, catching, kicking, moving with a ball, running, jumping and hopping. In addition, TOP Sport aims to introduce seven to eleven year to specific sports. ... A general aim of TOP Play and TOP Sport was to make physical education fun, emphasising active participation whilst consolidating basic skills (Roberts, 1998). The programmes were initially targeted at primary schools due to the fact that very few primary teachers were Physical Education specialists. ... The success and demand for these first two programmes led the YST to develop additional programmes for younger children and for secondary school students and teachers. These include TOP Tots, which helps children aged eighteen months to three years experience physical activities and games. TOP Start, which encourages three to five year olds to learn through physical activity; TOP Skill, which challenges eleven to fourteen year olds to extend their sporting skills and knowledge and TOP Link, which fosters leadership skills in young people by encouraging secondary age students to organise festivals of sport or dance for primary schools in their local area (Whelan 2000).