Primary-School Coaches Benefiting from CONCACAF Licensing Course

The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) launched its first ‘D License’ coaching course in Jamaica on Wednesday (April 11).

Top coaches from 16 primary schools across the island are participating in the four-day course, which will run until April 14 at the University of the West Indies (UWI)/Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) Captain Horace Burrell Centre of Excellence on the Mona Campus, St. Andrew.

It is free of cost to the participants and is being delivered through collaboration with the Institute of Sports (INSPORTS).

Minister of State for Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, Alando Terrelonge, in his remarks at the launch at the Centre of Excellence said that the training will build the capacity of football coaches.

“I regard this staging as a major thrust in the drive by the Ministry to increase the number of trained football coaches in Jamaica, working through the Institute of Sport in collaboration with the JFF,” he said.

Mr. Terrelonge said the Government will be providing more training programmes to improve the skills of local coaches.

According to a survey conducted by INSPORT, 1,263 coaches of children 12 years and under do not have certification.

“This course must be seen as a huge corrective measure when we take into consideration the current situation of some 1,000 football coaches across Jamaica, who are not properly licensed. You have been given the chance to formally advance your careers as football coaches to improve the level of officiating, especially at the grassroots level, and to help further the sport that we love so much,” Mr. Terrelonge said.

President of the JFF, Michael Ricketts, in expressing concern about the number of unlicensed coaches, noted that the CONCACAF course will help to strengthen Jamaica’s football programme.

CONCACAF Instructor, Vin Blaine, said the programme “is a very good one for the country, because you are training the coaches and instructors (who will train others).

“CONCACAF came up with the idea to empower the country by having their own instructors. For this age group, most coaches do not know the proper methodology of coaching. If they do not know this, the kids are going to get incorrect information and develop bad habits,” he noted.

He argued that once the coaches know the correct methodology “it will enhance the ability of the young players, so that when they get to the national programme certain things we won’t have to teach them. With this age group, if they already have under their belts the proper methodology and principles of the game, it makes it easier for them to learn the game”.

CONCACAF’s D License provides basic certification for football coaches and reinforces the governing body’s commitment to raising the standard of the game throughout the region.

The licensing programme provides coaches with valuable, internationally recognised certification, as well as the tools to impart knowledge at the local level.

Experts in coaching/player development are leading instruction in principles of coaching, adequate training by age, fundamentals of planning training sessions, physical training, health and security, and development of community clubs, among other components.