With football activities in Samoa continuing to increase at a steady rate, it was the coaches who benefited this week as the country played host to a four-day Youth Coaching Course.
The course, organised by Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) and Samoa Football Soccer Federation Normalisation Committee (SFSF-NC), was held at SFSF-NC headquarters in Tuana’imato, Apia from 22 – 25 July and tackled crucial issues affecting the development of junior football in the Pacific region this week.
At the start of the week, OFC Technical Director Jim Selby welcomed all participants on behalf of OFC President Reynald Temarii and General Secretary Tai Nicholas.
The 30 plus participants heard from Selby that children at the U-13 age level often miss out on vital development time during their youth.
"In the Pacific, very often, young people go straight to play in the over 18 age level in club football, but they’ve missed out on a lot of vital time during their younger years where it’s important to introduce proper coaching into their lives," he says.
"It’s important that kids’ football is recognised and we must remember that we have to treat children like kids and not adults when training them," he says.
Selby, who bears extensive international coaching and instructing experience and qualifications at FIFA and OFC level, said it was good to be back in Samoa to mentor a programme that will help local aspiring youth coaches become regionally accredited.
The course, which was proposed by SFSF-NC Chief Executive Officer Colin Tua’a and Technical Director Tunoa Lui, was the first of many planned technical activities for 2009 and beyond for Samoa Football.
Objectives included presenting age appropriate training and coaching methodology to coaches of youth players and to improve the quality of coaching performances for youth football.
At the end of the course participants are expected to come away with the ability to identify training requirements of youth players.
Selby also stressed the importance for coaches to have an open mind to understand that their players come from different environments, thus finding that players play differently because of it.
"Players in Europe play differently to players in Asia or in the Pacific, and it’s because they come from different environments and backgrounds," says Selby.
Technique and skills development were the two main focuses during the practical sessions while participants also learned about effective communication between a coach, player and referee during the theory session.
Story courtesy of Samoa Football