The course was held at Memorial Park in Wellington, New Zealand, over six days, from 6-11 May, and led by FIFA instructors Didier Chambaron, also OFC head of coach education, and Daniel Shirley, OFC player development officer.
All of the OFC member associations, with the exception of Tahiti, New Zealand and New Caledonia who have their own programmes in place, sent participants to take part in the course.
Shirley says his impression was that the course was very productive with all the participants taking their instructor’s responsibility seriously throughout the six days.
“A priority for us was for participants to understand their role as an instructor and the process they need to work through in order to prepare and deliver more effective courses,” Shirley says.
“Participants will continue to improve in their role as an instructor if they develop and follow their own process in future courses within their respective member associations. This is the first step in their role as an instructor and we will ensure that we follow up with all the participants throughout the year.”
Participant Diane Justus, women’s development officer for the Solomon Islands Football Federation, says coaching to players and coaching to coaches are two different things which require different approaches – something the course taught her.
“Being an instructor is different to being a coach. Both have a step-by-step process but how you approach each one differs, as an instructor you are no longer dealing with players but coaches who have football knowledge,” Justus says.
“Some coaches have an in-depth knowledge of football, while others are volunteers whose knowledge may be minimal and you have to take that into account. You need to identify their needs and then cater to those needs.”
Tonga Football Association technical director Kilifi Uele says while he has attended a similar course in the past it was great to take part again due to the introduction of new content this time around.
“The process is very clear and so helpful for me to now go and create content to meet the needs of my country,” he says.
“Our first course is next month so we are going back and applying what we have learnt straight away. Of course there is a need for us to have more coaches who can deliver to the grassroots age group so it is a very good course.”
Upon their return to their respective countries, the prospective instructors must conduct or assist in one OFC D Licence Part 1 (coaching players 5 to 12) and 2 (coaching players 13 to 16) course, and should also be regularly involved in grassroots and community football workshops.
OFC instructors will follow up on the progress of each participant and assess their capabilities before any accreditation, which is required to become an instructor, can be delivered.

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