By: Lamin Idriss Conteh (Cazorla)
A week-long amateur and licensed football refresher coaching course organized by the Western Area Football Association (WAFA) has ended in Freetown over the weekend. The event drew coaches from various clubs in the region.
Head of Media and Communications for WAFA, David Gerald Turner, told Politico in an interview at the Siaka Stevens Stadium where the training was conducted that the main reason for initiating the exercise was to empower grassroots coaches and those already with licenses, to have more experience in the game.
He said: “We’ve looked at several challenges and one of which was the experience and development of the coaches. When you look ordinarily, most of the coaches have the experience when it comes to the practicability of the course. But when you look at the certification, it is not there. For us, we want to look at both the practical and the theoretical aspects.”
He noted that for someone to be called a coach, that individual must have something to show for it and as an association the best they could do was to educate the coaches on the do’s and don’ts of the game. He recalled some years ago when the country could only boast of a single person – Mohamed Kallon and they would now want to see that the coaches transfer what they have learnt to upcoming individuals so that in the future, the country can boast of big names in coaching.
He went further to explain about the course which he said was for non-division club coaches who had no license before and those who have Licenses B and C. He also said that the training is not only meant for coaches but for club secretaries as well and that before, there was nothing like certificates for them, but with the training now they will get them.
He also noted that from the first day they started the course, the turnout had been encouraging and their main aim now is to work towards the development and growth of football and believed should coaches acquire the basic skills, it will help take the game to another dimension.
The Chairman of F.C Kallon, Mohamed Kallon told politico that it was a good initiative by WAFA. He pointed out that for the game to grow, the grassroots coaches should be empowered.
He was of the opinion that for the country to boast of better players, there must be better coaches too who can lead the boys through. He noted that the licenses given to the coaches will help them in the future.
The U-15 Coach of Real Friends F.C, James Tommy Kaindoh, thanked the organizers for such a wonderful initiative which he claimed impacted him a lot. He noted that the training has made him realize that coaching has its own dimension and as an upcoming coach, the course will benefit him a lot.
He added that he has never had any license or certificate before, but was now able to acquire one.
“Before, when I was having sessions with my boys, I was finding it difficult to organize them. I didn't even know how to organize a typical training session but with this course, I have now learnt how to organize a typical training session.”
Magazine United F.C coach, Alhassan Turay, said that coaching is a gradual process. He admitted that at first, he was finding it difficult to know how to organize sessions and how to train the boys and said the training course has helped him a lot in knowing some of the things he didn’t know before now. He noted that he was finding it difficult in the past to talk to his boys in training or during matches but from the knowledge acquired he now sees football as having its own language as any other profession in the world.
Turay promised to put into practice the experience gained.
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