All schools in Salo support the reconciliation of school attendance and sports activities of children and young people engaged in sports in a goal-oriented manner by offering athletes in grades 7–9 an opportunity to participate in morning training sessions at their sports club twice a week. This opportunity is intended for motivated athletes in grades 7–9 who, for example, pursue a place in a national sports team or compete at the level of the Finnish championships in their sports.
Participation in sports coaching is arranged between the club, the pupil, and the pupil’s guardians. The basic education unit does not select the pupils who participate in sports coaching.
The goal of the activities is to further strengthen the learning of both basic physical skills and abilities in a specific sport, allow for the amount and quality of training to be increased in a suitable manner, help the pupils grow as athletes and develop an active lifestyle, and help the young athletes to manage their time efficiently also in view of school attendance. Consequently, the morning training passes offered by sports clubs provide the pupils with an opportunity to increase the volume of training and the number of training sessions.
The activities are organised jointly by the schools and sports clubs, so that school starts at 9:00 on two days a week. Thus, pupils can participate in morning training offered by their sports club at least on these mornings before going to school. The goal is to reduce absences from school education.
Pupils must express an interest to participate in the activities to their guardians as well as their coach. The coach must then inform the school principal of the pupil’s willingness to participate in sports coaching, so that these pupils can be placed in the same classes.
Sports coaching is an activity organised by sports clubs, and as such it is not part of basic education activities. The guardians are responsible for transporting the pupils to the training and then to school.
