Olympic Solidarity |21 January 2020

From left to right: Socga president Gopal, coach Larue, coach Onezime and Socga secretary general Alcindor

Two more coaches receive Paisac accreditations

Two local coaches, namely Julien Onezime and Emmanuel Larue are now armed with more weapons in their arsenal to deliver in their respective sports after completing a three-month coaches’ training in Montreal, Quebec, Canada last year.

While in Montreal, women’s volleyball national team and Arsu coach Onezime followed a level four volleyball coaching course, while handball coach Larue handball followed a level one course.

The training falls under the Programme d'Appui International au Sport Africain et des Caraïbes (Paisac) where coaches learn about performance psychology, physical preparation, long term athlete development and performance planning.

The two coaches received their certificate from the president of the Seychelles Olympic and Commonwealth Games Association (Socga) Antonio Gopal yesterday during a ceremony at the association’s headquarters at Stad Linite, Roche Caïman.

Also present were Socga’s secretary general Alain Alcindor, members of the Socga’s executive committee, as well as members of the Seychelles Volleyball Federation (SVF) and the Seychelles Handball Federation (SHF).

Both coaches thanked their respective federations for selecting them and the Olympic Solidarity through Socga for the opportunity.

They both promised to share to the maximum the skills acquired during the Canadian adventure.

Handball coach Larue is a physical education (PE) instructor and he followed the classical sports training.

Also a PE instructor by profession, Onezime did a sports advanced training.

He is not new to Paisac training as he followed a three-month course in Montreal in 2008 when he had the opportunity to train with the McGill University volleyball team, did a lot of scientific training and gym work and concentrated on long-term training plans.

Last year, he was one of 26 local coaches who followed a 10-day seminar in Applied Sport Sciences as part of the preparations for the 2019 Indian Ocean Islands Games (IOIG).

During the training hosted by the Socga, in collaboration with Paisac, the coaches learned about performance psychology, physical preparation, long term athlete development and performance planning.

It is to note that coach Onezime was the only team-sport coach to bring home a gold medal at the last IOIG held in Mauritius.

Upon completion of the three-month level four course, Onezime becomes the second Seychellois after swimming coach Barnsley Albert to achieve the feat and become a qualified trainer.

Mr Albert became the first Seychellois to achieve a level four certificate under the programme in 2015 – eight years after following his first training in 2007. He was invited specifically by Paisac to complete his level four course and is qualified to train other coaches.

Paisac is an African initiative of development through sport. It has been developed in collaboration with the French-speaking African sports environment in order to be able to respond better to the specific needs of its coaches and sports trainers. It now also operates in Commonwealth countries.

Roland Duval