Valley date for Chinese youngsters

12:02am Friday 18th July 2008

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CHINA Now, the UK's largest ever festival of Chinese culture, will be flying a squad of 16 junior football players from Beijing on Thursday to begin a nine-day UK tour in the run up to the beginning of the Beijing Olympics.

Arriving in London on July 17, the squad's itinerary includes a training session with Charlton Athletic FC's coaches, a tournament with London youngsters at The Valley, lunch at the FA Headquarters in Soho as well as taking a look behind the scenes in a tour of Wembley Stadium.

Team sports in China do not form part of the physical education system in schools and extra-curricular activities traditionally focus on further education.

With no real grassroots sports infrastructure in place, the China Now club football programme encourages young Chinese people to learn how to play football, engage in team activities and speak English in after-school clubs which are led by English and Scottish FA qualified coaches.

One of China Now's goals is to start more community-based sporting exchanges between Britain and China and increase both understanding and engagement between the younger generations of both countries.

With this in mind, China Now in February announced the opportunity for Beijing youngsters in the 12 and 13-year-old age group to win a place on a football tour of a lifetime to UK.

A total of 1,200 Beijingers were invited to take part in a three-month football training programme.

Aware the most proficient footballers and English speakers would be selected to tour the UK in July, the young footballers have been training twice a week under the guidance of a number of qualified coaches who are based in Beijing for this project.

Chief executive of the Charlton Athletic Community Trust Jason Morgan said: "Charlton Athletic and the trust are delighted to be involved with China Now and the concept.

"Having formed a strong link with the country, and with the national captain Zheng Zhi playing for the club, it is a great opportunity to build even stronger partnerships going forward.

"Charlton Athletic FC are proud of the work we have carried out in so many other countries aimed at building sustainable programmes and working with new agencies, so this is an exciting project for so many reasons to be associated with."

For more information on the China Now tour with full details of all venues, visit chinanow.org.uk/football