A WORCESTER football coach has used his knowledge of the beautiful game to create an interactive children’s pirate storybook designed to get young people to be more physically active.
Tom Oldaker’s new book, ‘The Adventures of Alex the Pirate: Treasure Island’, follows a child who pretends he is a pirate and goes on an adventure.
The second half of the book allows children to act out the story through a series of structured sports games and activities centred around football.
The games can be adapted to suit any number of youngsters of varying abilities.
Tom, who graduated from the University of Worcester in 2022, self-published the book and aims for it to be used in schools and by parents reading to their children.
The book is aimed at children aged between 18 months and six years old.
The 39-year-old spent seven months in Bahrain working at a football coaching academy, and most recently worked for Birmingham City Football Club Community Trust.
He came up with the idea for a book through his career as a football coach, often running sessions using games based on different themes like pirates or cowboys.
If his book proves successful, Tom said more could be on the cards, with different themes featured in future novels.
Tom said it was brilliant to see his book brought to life.
“I never thought I would write a book. Just seeing it from an idea, going through the process of creating the illustrations and refining the story, to seeing it as a physical book has been really exciting.”
The book is available via most online retailers.
