Write to your local club. If you live in Epsom there is no point in writing to Sir Alex Ferguson to see if he will release Rio Ferdinand for the day.

Contact the appropriate person at the club. This can be difficult as the position responsible for player appearances is likely to vary from club to club. It is best to ring the switchboard and ask to be put through to someone responsible for community work (see www.soccerbase.com for a list of clubs and their contact details). Your next port of call could be the Playing for Success centre manager (if your club has one - for contact details click Playing for Success), the Football in the Community team, or even the press/marketing department.

All football players do some form of community work; it is part of the services that clubs offer to their local area.

Ask for a player that is a reader, rather than just the most famous person at the club. That said, sometimes they can be one and the same.

Don't listen to people who tell you that footballers don't read; there is always at least one keen reader in every first team. As proof, we currently have almost 100 Reading Champions from the world of professional football. If your club has a Champion they might be a good person to ask to come along. Find out if there is one at your club.

Timing is important - look at the fixture lists (see www.soccerbase.com). Don't ask the player to come on the day when they have a mid-week game. Also consider that they will rarely be available on a morning - they should be able to get to you for about 2 pm - remember that the training ground in most clubs' cases is a distance from the football ground - both of which may be a fair way from the player's home. Thursday is often a good day, but in general it is best to go with whatever you are offered.

Injured (or banned!) players are more likely to be available.

Some managers can be reluctant to release their players for these kinds of duties. They are after all first and foremost footballers. However, there is plenty of inspiration that the club could still provide - ask about stadium tours, or if your class can visit the Study Support Centre.

All Premiership and Championship clubs have footballing academies, or centres of excellence - you could ask if any of the students who attend these would be willing to visit the school. Although young, these players can be the future of the club, and are often close in age to the young people that you are hoping to inspire. They are immediately revered as this is who you want to be if you want to become a professional footballer. Academy students (who used to be called apprentices) still attend college, often studying to at least 'A' level qualifications.

Consider other alternatives. Football in the Community coaches often make excellent role-models. They are used to working with children, and use reading and writing as part of their everyday work. They are badged by the club, are often ex-professionals themselves, and, like the academy students, will be by revered by the young people just by virtue of their being associated with football.

There are lots of careers at football clubs - why not ask the physio or club doctor to come and talk to your group? Also, remember that there are alternatives to visits - you may be able to set-up a live 'chat' via email, or perhaps ask them to do a video message.

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I've got the player, what now?

If you’re thinking of asking a player to attend your school, or you have already contacted the club and arranged for a player to visit, it is worthwhile considering these tips which should help to make your event a success:

• Plan it out: The best player visits have as much to do with the member of staff that organises them as the player who turns up. Just because the player is comfortable in front of 75,000 people on a Saturday at 3pm does not mean that he’ll be comfortable in front of 30 kids on a Tuesday afternoon. The player may turn up having done no preparation himself, but this doesn’t mean you won’t have a great event. It’s down to you as the organiser to ensure that you have prepared what will happen and having activities ready is the key to a good visit. There are a wide range of activities that you could undertake and the ideas below should give you some inspiration. As an absolute minimum the children to prepare some questions to ask the player.

• Make contact: Unless you have an excellent contact at the club, if possible speak to the player first and agree practicalities. These include: how long the visit will last, what you have planned for the visit, what you would like the player to do. E.g. will they be willing to read an extract from their favourite book? Have they won any medals or trophies that they would be able to bring along with them? Are they able to bring any memorabilia like old boots, club pens, or a signed shirt to give to the school?

• Prepare for the worst: The player may well be late, and in a worse case scenario might not turn up. Schedules can change so it’s always best to have a backup plan for what to do with the children if things do fall through. This is particularly important if you haven’t had personal contact with the player prior to the event.

• Structure the visit: Player visits often work best when you start with a large group, (e.g. a whole school assembly or class), and then follow this with a smaller group. The smaller group is often better if you’re involving press or photos. Save 10-15 minutes at the end of the session for autographs or for children to have their picture taken with the player. If possible, talk to the player about this first and how it will work.

• Have a reason: Asking the player to visit for something specific gives the event an immediate focus. Ask the player to present Reading Champions certificates or Reading Challenge certificates, or to visit on World Book Day. It is also easier to involve the press if you have asked the player to attend for a specific reason or present something.

• Embrace the foreign player: If the player is not from Britain take the opportunity to look at the country that the player is from with the pupils and base some class work around this prior to the visit so that the pupils can ask the player questions about what life is like in their home country. If English is the player’s second language, why not arrange for the pupils to greet the player in his first language, adding a MFL aspect.

• Get the Dads in: Having a player to visit is an ideal opportunity to engage with families, and in particular, Dads. Send a letter home to let parents know that you are planning a football based reading event and parents are welcome. If you are starting a ‘Dads and Lads’ book group, why not invite a football player to launch it or to come to the end of year session as a treat for those who’ve taken part.

• Do the research: The player visiting to talk about reading will often be the football club’s Reading Champion. All of the Reading Champions have PDF files which you can download from www.literacytrust.org.uk/campaign/champions/celebchamps.html
Prior to the event you could base class work and activities around these PDF worksheets e.g. matching the quote or favourite book with the player.

• Don’t be too specific: If the player says that they have a favourite book, encourage questions about why they chose that book, but don’t expect them to have read it recently and remember it well. This is especially the case if the book is one that the pupils have read recently and know very well.

• Take the media angle: If your local club can’t send a player to your school, or if you want to add an extra dimension to the event, why not try to get a journalist or reporter to visit? Most professional clubs will be followed by a reporter whose job it is to write about the team. To extend this theme and involve budding journalists as well as budding footballers, have pupils interviewing the player, or interviewing each other. Get pupils to write match reports or put together an article for the school newsletter about the visit. Players often have some media training which they will be willing to talk about. Further, if you can get hold of any meaningful stats about the player you could base some kind of maths quiz around this e.g. What is the player’s goal to game ratio?

• Make the visit visible: There are downloadable posters of footballers, cricketers and WWE stars reading available from www.literacytrust.org.uk/campaign/posters.html Both before and after the visit why not promote the player coming to school by displaying these, or even better, produce your own Champions Read posters of players. Screen savers are also a good way to promote the message. Make sure that you alter the posters regularly or change where they are positioned to keep interest. Also, to create greatest interest put the posters places where they would not normally be expected to create e.g. on the back of toilet doors or in changing rooms.

•Say thank you: At the end of the visit always remember to thank the player for their time. If you can get all the kids to thank the player for coming to visit the school, even better. A small gift (such as a book) will be very well received.

Good luck! If you have other tips about making player visits successful please let us know.

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General Ideas

This is a list of ideas which may or may not be entirely original, but should hopefully provide some inspiration for using football for some educational fun.

Discuss nouns, verbs and adjectives associated with football - these will be useful for some of the following exercises

Press conference. Children can be managers, physios, chairmen and press. Children can start by talking about the sort of questions which they would want to ask, and then write a short press release.

Player interviews - split into pairs and ask questions based around different scenarios (e.g. you have been placed on the transfer list).

What books/magazines do you think players should read? i.e. what would you recommend to Becks?

Write a matchday report about last week's game. Alternatively the last game of football (or other sport) that was watched (reports could be put on a website). If possible watch 15 mins using a video of a match.

Headlines from recent football stories - make up some alternatives.

Split into two teams and each come up with the best description of the offside rule without using pots of salt and pepper.

Write an inspiring speech to rally your team at half-time (see Henry V).

Hold a debate - I believe footballers are paid too much money. women in football .

Write a speech to persuade others to support the same team as you.

Write a football song - use a familiar tune (She'll be coming round the mountain etc).

Write a poem about your mascot.

Directions to your ground.

Design a website for your favourite team including your match reports etc.

Write copy for a matchday programme to include your 'player' interviews etc.

Quick Quiz:

Football alphabet a is for Arsenal etc.

Football hangman.

Name 5 teams with the letter x in (Crewe AleXander).

5 teams that begin and end with the same letter (Charlton AthletiC).

Spend 10 minutes making 10 anagrams of football clubs/stadiums/countries. Swap with a friend and see if you can decipher them.

Let us know about your good ideas so that we can share them! Email us.

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