PORT MORESBY – Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) Technical Director Jim Selby has challenged attendees at his Coaching Instructors course to channel their enthusiasm, passion and willingness to identify the next wave of coaching talent in Papua New Guinea.
Selby recently completed a Coach Instructors course for the PNG coaches at the Papua New Guinea Football Association (PNGFA) academy in Lae, PNG.
The course started 8th April and ran for seven days with Selby working alongside a group of PNG’s brightest coaching talents. The theory and practical based course was conducted to give the PNG coaches a taste of professional football coaching and to use the new found contact to help improve the game at all levels.
"This was one of the best experiences I have had in coaching within Oceania. The quality of work performed by the course participants was high and their enthusiasm excellent.
It was a joy to impart the course elements to this group and I am optimistic they will take forward what they have learned to the rest of the Papua New Guinea football family," Selby told www.pngfootball.com.pg and www.oceaniafootball.com
Papua New Guinea’s recent Olympic Football Tournament performances showed the country possessed a strong base of raw talent with the men’s team under George Cowie turning in some exciting displays where attacking football was the order of the day.
Unfortunately for the team that commitment to attack didn’t translate into a sound commitment to defence ensuring some lopsided results were earned.
The women’s international team showed a huge improvement despite losing 0-2 to New Zealand in the play-off for Beijing. New Zealand defeated Papua New Guinea 7-0 in the FIFA Women’s World Cup Qualifying tournament in Lae in 2007.
This course is conducted in line with the Papua New Guinea Football Association aim to develop the technical areas of football in the country. These areas included refereeing, coaching and player development which are crucial to the improvement of the game particularly for the fledgling Telikom Cup National Soccer League (NSL) competition’s continuing growth.
The course covered practical and theoretical sessions and helped PNG coaches to form new approaches to planning individual training sessions, training sessions and development over the course of a season and grassroots development.
The participants of the course will be awarded OFC Youth and Junior coaching Certificates.
Graduates of the course will be able to conduct basic level coaching courses for junior coaches in across the country. They will also assess players and other junior coaches and recommend them for further training and coaching education following the PNGFA’s coaching education and accreditation structure adapted in 2004.
Participants in this OFC course are expected to be actively coaching both before and after the course.
Story courtesy PNGFA website
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