Archive for the ‘Player Visits’ Category

Playing for Success Presentation (December 2009)

Thursday, December 17th, 2009

The Riverside Stadium’s Hardwick Suite hosted our termly PfS Celebration of achievement event on Thursday 10th December.
More than 100 students, teachers and family members turned out to see young people who’ve been involved with the Playing for Success and Double Club projects over the last school term. Australian international and upcoming Boro star Rhys Williams was on hand to present certificates and prizes out to the pupils of the latest Playing for Success project for their efforts. Pupils were given special prizes for outstanding work including cinema tickets, a match day experience, i-pod shuffles and even a signed away shirt.

Posted in Centre Activities, Kings Manor, Player Visits, Presentations, St. Joseph | 1 Comment »

More support for our film project

Monday, October 26th, 2009

Our film project has received even more backing from Boro superstar Adam Johnson. He took the time out from one of our Playing for Success sessions with students from St. Joseph’s to lend his support to our campaign.

Adam Johnson with Adam Heward and Tony Coleman

Adam Johnson with Adam Heward and Tony Coleman

During the session he answered questions, posed for pictures and signed autographs before students from Trinity College and Kings Manor arrived to carry out some scientific experiments.

They wanted to find out if playing video games had a physiological effect on the gamer. Strapping themselves into heart rate monitors they played on Guitar Hero and even challenged Adam to a game of FIFA 10 on the Xbox 360. The match was Middlesbrough Vs. Newcastle with Adam representing Boro of course. The game was full of twists and turns and the heart rate recordings reflected this. First the Boro took the lead but Newcastle came back to equalise. Then a corner from Adam’s in game likeness led to a towering David Wheater header to win the match and send Adam’s opponents heart rates soaring.

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Posted in Centre Activities, Images, Kings Manor, Media, Player Visits, Schools, St. Joseph, Trinity, Video | No Comments »

Adam Johnson (PfS Visit)

Monday, October 26th, 2009

Boro’s tricky left winger, Adam Johnson attended the MFC Study Support Centre to answer questions from the pupils of St. Joseph’s school.

Adam with students from St. Joseph's

Adam with students from St. Joseph's

This was a special treat for the pupils who have been part of the Playing for Success project at the centre, working on their literacy skills. ‘Jinky’ talks about making his Boro debut, playing in Europe and life in the Championship as well as the personal qualities that have helped him become successful.

Posted in All Saints, Centre Activities, Media, Player Visits, St. Joseph, Video | No Comments »

Transition Summer School

Friday, August 28th, 2009

Students from some Middlesbrough’s primary schools were giving the opportunity of taking part in a Transition Summer School. The aim was create situations for the students to practice key skills that they will need to make a successful transition from primary to secondary school.

The first activity that the students took part in was a cookery course in association with What’s Cookin’ Kids at Middlesbrough College. In the aspirational environment of a professional kitchen and under the guidance of an expert chef the students prepared healthy fruit kebab snacks, a wholesome tuna pasta for lunch, sweet chocolate chip muffins for desert and a convenient sandwich to take home. These activities encouraged the students to call upon and develop their preparation and organisational skills.

Next, the group traveled to Carlton Outdoor Education Centre A.K.A Carlton Camp. Here the students would embark on numerous outdoor activities designed to test their communication and team work skills such as orienteering, climbing and puzzle solving.

Gateshead was the next destination for the group where they took part in musical activities in the stunning surrounds of The Sage on the banks of the river Tyne. The focus of the day was being creative and taking risks. The students were encouraged to do their own thing and stand out from the crowd, letting their creativity flow. The  students worked in groups to produce musical rhythms using drums, co-ordinating their beats and taking freestyle solo’s occasionally. Later they were involved in a freestyle rapping session that everyone was part of. Every one created a verse that was then put into a track and put onto a CD.

On the last day the students joined us at the Study Support Centre. Here the students created TV adverts for the cooking project that they took part in. Using footage that was shot on the day the students used iMovie to create their own advert and used the centre’s microphones to record a voice over for the add. The best bit was yet to come as the students entered the Riverside TV studio to record their personal promotions for their adverts in front of the green screen. This was then imported into iMovie to give their adverts a more persuasive edge.

Finally it was off to the Fenton Lounge at the Riverside Stadium where friends and family were invited to celebrate the students success. The whole week had been captured on camera and the footage was show in a presentation to give the attendees an idea as to the activities that their children had been involved in. The awards evening featured special guest for the evening Boro’s own David Wheater who kindly presented certificates of achievement, posed for pictures and signed autographs.

Posted in Centre Activities, Media, Player Visits, Presentations, Summer School, Video | No Comments »

Presentation (July 2009)

Wednesday, August 5th, 2009

Learners from the Playing for Success and Double Club projects had their achievements recognised at our latest presentation in the Legends Lounge.

Former England World Cup and Boro legend Alan Peacock was on hand to present the learners with their certificates of achievement and special prizes.

Students taking part in the Playing for Success project have completed a 10 week literacy course based at the Study Support Centre. During this time the students have been creating their own website showcasing the Riverside Stadium and all it has to offer in the guise of a stadium tour. Their website included a press room video which was filmed in the centres TV studio infront of a green screen. The learners pretended to be news reporters and Boro superstars conducting a post match interview in a heated press room environment.

They also used the latest microphone and computer technology at the centre to create radio adverts for their stadium tour which were added to their websites.

Posted in Centre Activities, Media, Player Visits, Schools, Video | No Comments »

Player Visit – Stewart Downing (February 2009)

Thursday, February 19th, 2009

Students from Hall Garth school and members of their family have been at the Riverside this week take part the Communicating for Success project.

The participants worked closely with poet, author and Boro fan Andy Croft to create unique poetry based around football memories. Newly learned ICT skills were then put into practice to create a short film with evocative images and music with the spoken words of their poems.

Boro and England winger Stewart Downing was our special guest on the final day and was treated to several of these short films including poem all about himself.

After the presentation Stuart was the focus in a question and answer session where he revealed his thoughts on many subjects including progressing through the Boro ranks, playing for England and his career as a DJ.

Posted in Communicating for Success, Hall Garth, Images, Media, Player Visits, Schools, Video | No Comments »

Player Visit – Josh Walker (February 2009)

Tuesday, February 10th, 2009

Up and coming Boro youngster Josh Walker joined students from Captain Cook’s this afternoon at the Study Support Centre and his presence cause quite a stir. Reporters and photographers came to interview and photograph the latest Boro wonder kid but not Josh helped the students with their task.

The students were asked to rank the various ‘Qualities of a Captain’ in order of importance such as, ‘The Most skillful player’, ‘Someone who’s good at shouting’ and ‘Someone who’s cool and calm under pressure’ and Josh was on  hand to offer his expert opinion having captained England at under 17, 18 and 19 level.

He then answered the students’ questiontions about his career so far, future amibitions and his taste in music, turning up some interesting and unexpected responses. Finally the professional journalists got their chance to speak to the next big thing in a Boro shirt as students from Captain Cook said goodbye.

Posted in Audio, Captain Cook, Player Visits, Schools, Video | No Comments »

Player Visit – Rhys Williams (January 2009)

Thursday, January 22nd, 2009

This afternoon we had a special guest join is at the Study Support Centre, Welsh international and Boro startlet Rhys Williams.
Rhys was happy to answer questions that the students from Newport had prepared for him and talked openly about his life in Austraila, signing for the Boro and his international career.

Click below to hear what Rhys has to say when he met students from Newport Primary.

[audio:http://mfcstudysupportcentre.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/newport-rhys-williams.mp3]

Posted in Audio, Images, Media, Newport, Player Visits, Schools | No Comments »

Player Visit – Julio Arca (November 2008)

Wednesday, November 12th, 2008

Students from Newlands and St. Pius enjoyed a surprise in their session this week when Boro star Julio Arca dropped in to the Study Support Centre. Whilst he was there the students took the opportunity to involve Julio in an activity called “Qualities of a Captain”. This activity requires students to rank personal attributes that a captain may have in order of importance. Having Julio there allowed the students to get an expert opinion from the former captain.

The students also had the chance to take part in a question and answer session with Julio where he answered questions ranging from “Who is you football hero?” to “What do you like to do in your spare time?”.

Julio kindly stayed a little while longer to sign autographs and pose for pictures with the students before giving an interview for Boro TV.

Posted in Images, Media, Newlands, Player Visits, Schools, St. Pius, Video | No Comments »