The success of Leicester City has been hailed as the greatest fairytale in sporting history.
In a sport dominated by big spending teams, the team from the East Midlands managed to become English champions a year after they battled relegation. In the ultimate underdog story, the Foxes did this with a budget of just over £50 million, with a stadium capacity of 32,000 and a total city population of 300,000 people.
Challenging “Elitism”
20 league titles in the past 20 years have been won by one of Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea or Manchester City. This accounts for just 04 teams out of a possible 20. Leicester has managed to break the status-quo by simply believing in themselves and their right to win.
“These are guys who have come through a lot of negative experiences and have been hardened by that. Look where team spirit gets you. When you have a dressing room without too many egos and a coach who is a fantastic man manager” – Wassim Khan
Schools with limited budgets should not be afraid to compete with established schools. With hardwork and organisation, anybody can attain success.
Smaller schools can prosper by emulating what bigger schools already do well. Leicester adopted the approaches of bigger football clubs in using new technology and analysing lots of data on how players perform. Schools use exams to analyse the performance of students. However, big schools have a tendency of dividing students across several class streams to break down the student to teacher ratio to a more manageable one. Smaller schools may not have the vast number of streams but that division can be done for the students’ study groups. With several study groups students can better analyse one another’s weaknesses and there’s an opportunity for everyone to standout.
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The Leader Who Learnt From His Failure
Claudio Ranieri has coached at some of Europe’s elite clubs but failed to land a major league trophy. He coached Chelsea (2003-2004, finishing second to Arsene Wenger’s invincible side), Juventus
Great performance leads to a coach being celebrated for their brilliance, whereas poor performance sees the coach being pilloried for their bad decisions. Ranieri has not gone from being good to great; he has been using his system throughout his career, with a few adjustments.
Students should learn from their preceding performances. When reading through their past exam papers, they should analyse what they did wrong and how much preparation was dedicated prior to the exam, adjustments should then be made accordingly
Incentives
Ranieri started a tradition with his players this season that would go on to inspire their performances. First, he would provide pizza or every game they concluded with a clean sheet. This bolstered their defensive prowess. Then he expanded the proposition to every good performance they had. The team never looked back.
In a study group, members can have special rewards for solving maths problems. It could be that the leadership in the study group is reassigned with every meeting, and given to the most active members. The meritorious reward will encourage students to polish up on their academic knowledge before every discussion, and in the long run they will be learning.
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Specialisation
Leicester City performed badly in the cup competitions. They dropped out of the FA Cup and the Football League Cup in the early rounds. This way, they managed to concentrate only on the league, as all their title rivals had to contend in the cup competitions and across Europe.
In the Ugandan education system, at every level students have to choose subjects to propel them to their desired career. The paramount principle here is you have to choose a subject you’re good at (because it wouldn’t make sense failing a subject you chose on your own). This way, you can pursue it with passion and mastery is evidently assured.