How to Run Socktober

This Socktober we invite children to engage with people experiencing challenges in the developing world through the language they understand best – play! Children are challenged to make a difference through playing the world game of soccer.

Socktober Challenge

  • Take a journey around the world in mission with our six weekly Mission Packs.
  • Each pack involves fun activities and resources developed by our specialist team of experienced mission educators.
  • Learn about the reality of other children in India, Ethiopia, Thailand and Cambodia, and take concrete action to support them.
  • Tackle the activities in class, and involve family and friends at home. Ask a parent/carer to set up your Socktober Star page.
  • Make a recycled 'sockball' and practise soccer skills like knee-ups, logging them on your individual page.
  • Ask family, friends or community/parish members to sponsor your efforts in completing activities!
Get started!

Socktober Shootout

  • On your Socktober Event Day, students gear up to kick some goals for kids around the world!
  • Each child kicks five balls in a penalty shoot‑out style.
  • One of the five goal attempts is played with the ‘sockball’ made by students, giving a real‑life understanding of sport in developing countries.
  • Involve your community – the goalkeeper is an integral part of the game and can join in the fun to ‘save’ goals. Consider inviting your parish priest, parents, a local soccer star, the principal, your local mayor or other local personality to be goalkeeper for the day!
  • Teachers and students engage with the prepared learning and liturgy resources designed to support the day.

Find all the resources you need below!

Socktober Event Day Resources

A Socktober Event Day, also known as a Mission Day, is an opportunity for your school to participate in additional activities to provide an holistic head, heart and hands engagement in mission. Your Event Day can include liturgy, a 360-degree virtual reality experience, interactive workshops, and the very popular penalty shootout with handmade 'sockballs'.

A Socktober Event Day adds depth to children’s experience of mission and an understanding of how daily life is similar and different in countries such as Cambodia. Find all the resources you need to run a fun and successful Socktober Event Day below.

For help with planning your Socktober Event Day, please contact your local Diocesan Director, or email info@socktober.org.au to learn more.

How to Play

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Socktober Skills: Passing, Shootouts and Knee-ups

Catholic Mission's resident soccer guru and Programs Officer Conor Nolan takes you through all the skills you can develop today to be a Socktober Superstar. Work with your teammates to improve your passing, maximise the number of knee-ups you can do (and log your process) and nail the perfect penalty goal.

Conor is a member of the Catholic Mission Programs team, which is tasked with supporting communities oversees to achieve their goals and objectives. The Programs team works closely with our partners to help guide and support them during their journey to achieve sustainable change.

Tips to nail the perfect penalty goal

1. Pick your spot that you want to shoot before your kick and don’t change your mind.

2. Keep an eye on the positioning of the goalkeeper.

3. Contact the ball with the instep of your foot for more accuracy

4. Keep your head over the ball and follow through with your kick.

Spirituality in Sport: Thursday Island's Socktober Experience

Learn how a primary school on Thursday Island off the coast of far north Queensland paired Socktober with its unique local culture to connect students and their community to children in Ghana last year, raising over $1,500. What impact can your school have on the world?

How to make a Sockball

Check out this video that shows you how to make your very own sockball!