His secondary role of managing Teouma Academy and coaching the national U-17 team saw Mermer take his young charges to a third placing at the OFC U-17 Championship earlier this year and the former international has continued to look for ways to grow his knowledge of the game and how to deliver that new-found knowledge to his young charges.
Having recently spent two weeks in Wellington, New Zealand attending FIFA and OFC courses and seminars, Mermer headed further down the country to join APFA head coach Giovani Fernandes at his headquarters in Christchurch to learn more about running a successful academy operation.
“The idea was to get some ideas about how we can restructure our academy in Vanuatu to have a similar structure to APFA, which is something we have been working on thanks to the partnership between OFC and its member associations with APFA,” Mermer says.
“APFA is a very advanced academy. It’s well managed and there is a strong programme in place, especially for the development of youth.”
Mermer says his time was spent switching between observing sessions run by Fernandes and his staff before moving into a participatory role alongside Fernandes, including taking some warm-up sessions.
While there were similarities between what he does at home and what happens at APFA, Mermer says the difference is in the delivery.
“The quality of delivering the message there is much more detailed in every aspect. I really enjoyed the sessions run by Gio and I learnt a lot from him,” he says.
“The attitudes of the players were really good and the relationship that Gio has with the youth and all the staff at the academy really impressed me, as did the way they plan their sessions using what is called a ‘phase’. Phase one is six weeks, phase two is another six weeks and so on.
“Something that I also learnt a lot about was the growth of a player. With strength conditioning how you deal with a young player is different in comparison to a fully grown player. You have to be careful not to give them too much. At APFA they manage all the exercises and take into account whether it is a new player or a full-time player. It’s very, very interesting.”
Mermer is now focusing on how we will utilise the skills and knowledge he gained during his short stay in Christchurch and says he will look to have a strong programme in place ready for the next intake of players to the academy in July.
“I think it is necessary to continue learning from Gio and will remain in close contact with him as we look to rearrange the academy here in Vanuatu. I think in the future all of this will help our young players a lot.
OFC technical director Patrick Jacquemet says Mermer’s visit to APFA came as a result of the academy’s partnership with OFC as APFA offered to share the experience and facilities with coaches from around region, with Mermer the first to take advantage of that proposal.
“Etienne is in the process of completing his OFC B Licence and this was an excellent opportunity for him to gain some experience,” Jacquemet says.
“This was a chance for him to experience the day-to-day life of a professional academy and its organisation. What we want is to see our region’s coaches work in an unfamiliar environment and have a more open mind. It’s also a chance to give them different ideas and a different vision on development and training.”

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