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Posted - Jul 02 2004 : 12:55:16 PM
Coach educators for African trio
Tuesday, 02 March 2004
Direct cooperation between national football associations in Europe and Africa, which is one of the aspects of the Meridian Project, is not limited to selective action, but seeks rather to work towards lasting development. One example of this type of work is the programme of the Royal Netherlands Football Association (KNVB).
Independent coach educators
Almost five years since the launch of the international educational programmes of the KNVB Academy, Burkina Faso, Kenya and Zambia have their first coach educators. All three Meridian partners now have instructors who are able to run courses for youth coaches without the assistance of Dutch colleagues.
Grassroots programmes
The pyramid-structured grassroots development programmes of the KNVB start with five-day courses for youth coaches at a basic level, followed by a ten-day course at intermediate level. Very talented coaches and potential educators then go into the advanced course. This whole education programme is organised within the countries. A small group can get to the top of the pyramid through an intense instructor course.
Enormous boost
In Burkina Faso, the Meridian partnership programme received an enormous boost when the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs made it possible for the KNVB to send a technical advisor to Burkina Faso for two years. After the assignment of the technical advisor came to an end in September 2003, more than 400 youth coaches throughout the country were trained by a group of 12 regional instructors, led by Mory Sanou, the man who started the cooperation with the KNVB in 1998.
Inaugural course
The final coaching project in this intense cooperation was the 1st International Coaching Course for French Language Countries in Africa, which involved 18 coaches from seven nations. The course instructors were Mory Sanou from Ouagadougou, Famoso from Bobo Dioulasso and Yakuba Traoré (goalkeeping), assisted by Technical Advisor Mart Nooij from the KNVB.
Two steps further
In Kenya, the programme with the Mathare Youth Sports Association (MYSA) in the slums of Nairobi has even gone two steps further, with the MYSA opening their Academy for Sports & Community Leadership Courses in 2002 and having two coach educators from the MYSA running courses for the KNVB and FAZ in Zambia in November 2003 and January 2004. The instructors, Francis Kimanzi and Peter Serry, both not even 30 yet, are responsible for coach education within the MYSA. Francis Kimanzi is also head coach of Kenyan premier league club Mathare United, and Peter Serry is director of the MYSA.
Prestigious award
In 2003, the MYSA was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and was the first sports organisation ever to win the prestigious Prince Claus Award for its unique approach of using sport in the slums of the Mathare Valley, where 17,000 young boys and girls are able to play football weekly because they commit themselves to the MYSA and do community work (rubbish clean-up, HIV/AIDS prevention programmes, refugee programmes and kids-in-jail projects).
Basic course
Zambia was the first country to welcome the Kenyan instructors and took advantage of the knowledge and experience of the East-Africans. More than 60 youth coaches followed a basic course with Peter and Francis, assisted by three Zambian instructors in the making, one of whom is Ben Bamfuchile, coach of Power Dynamo in Kitwe and assistant coach to the Zambian national team. National coach of the Eagle Stars is former PSV Eindhoven and 1988 African Player of the Year Kalusha Bwalya, who completed his UEFA A licence in the Netherlands in the summer of 2003. |
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