From FIFA footballs to physics

Loughborough High School pupils team up with world-leading university to get World Cup ready

Pupils at Loughborough High School have been involved in the trial of an exciting football and physics outreach initiative led by Loughborough University ahead of this summer’s World Cup. 

Named ‘Get World Cup Ready’ The World Cup edition of the initiative was developed by researchers at Loughborough University in partnership with adidas and funded by the Royal Academy of Engineering, building upon the ‘Subject in a Box’ scheme, already successfully running at Loughborough University.  It was then shared with teachers at Loughborough High School, who provided valuable feedback to further develop the interactive learning lesson, which could then be rolled out to other schools across the UK, providing an interactive and scientific understanding of the physics of football. 

Each box contains footballs of different sizes, football pumps, pressure gauges and weighing scales. These are supported by practical summary cards and worksheets to provide pupils with the hands-on and unique opportunity to undertake some of the same tests used to approve elite match balls, through which they can explore the link between football and physics. 

During a trial lesson in the Spring term, Year 8 pupils at Loughborough High School undertook a series of experiments that showed how a football is tested according to the FIFA Quality Programme standards. This included measuring the circumference of the ball, recording its rebound height and looking at the impact of water absorption. 

I’ve learnt about the technical side of sport and found it interesting to understand more about the effort that goes into making things like the footballs which you don’t know about when just watching the sport. It also made me notice how different subjects, like sport and physics, are intertwined.

Lara, Year 8

The Subject in a Box initiative also aims to provide secondary school pupils with an insight into university-level study. The World Cup edition of the initiative encouraged pupils to think about university courses that are related to the lesson such as Sports Technology, Engineering Physics and Product Design Engineering. 

Mr Mark Harper-Williams, Teacher of Physics at Loughborough High School, who led the trial World Cup in a Box lesson, said: “The World Cup in a Box initiative proved a fantastic way to get our girls thinking about possible career paths. Not only that, but the interactive lesson encouraged them to think logically about the science behind sport. With the upcoming World Cup, the initiative effectively highlighted the real-world link between large-scale sporting events and physics. It was great to see our pupils so engaged with the initiative.” 

Through their participation in the trial, pupils at Loughborough High School developed both their understanding of physics and related career paths, complementing the high-quality futures education they receive from the School’s professionally qualified Careers Adviser throughout their journey at Loughborough High School. 

The ’Get World Cup Ready’ initiative, which is free to request (any boxes scheduled for delivery up to 31^st July 2026 will receive free return postage), will be rolled out to senior schools across the UK next week.