The All India Football Federation’s A-Licence course for the coaches was successfully held at the Fr Agnel Sports Complex in Navi Mumbai on Monday. It was attended by 24 coaches from across the country and culminated with a series of practical exams and was followed by a discussion about the role of A-licensed coaches in the country.
“At the outset, we discovered there was a big gap as far as the contents of the former course and the new content was concerned. The participants took a bit of a time to settle down but very soon understood our match-related approach,” course conductor Robert Baan, technical director of the AIFF, said. “As we progressed, we had some very interesting discussions between the participants and instructors. “The most significant point was that all the participants agreed to improve the level of football in the country.
“Very often it’s seen that coaches holding degrees go back to their public sector organisations and not devote their knowledge for the development of the sport. That’s unfortunate. But this time, everyone has promised to pass on their expertise to the footballers,” he maintained.
The course was divided into two modules and covered areas such as fitness development, video analysis, media management, administration of a professional football club and other technical matters.