Football - Local coaches brush up skills through Caf Licence C refresher course |02 October 2020

Instructor Marc Mathiot delivering a session yesterday (Photo: Anel Robert)

A group of 13 local coaches are presently attending a three-day refresher course aimed at upgrading their qualifications in line with modern football practices.

The training – Caf C refresher Course – which is being hosted by the Seychelles Football Federation (SFF), is in line with the Confederation of African Football (Caf) training and will also prepare the coaches ahead of their Caf License B coaching course scheduled to take place later during the month.

Taking place at Maison Football and the Astro-turf pitch at Roche Caïman, the training also forms part of the Caf Coaching Licensing System which serves as a platform to evaluate coaches and to inject more professionalism into the art of coaching, aimed at reaching homogeneous and high professional standards.

The three-day training is also serving a license renewal for the coaches ahead of the new season.

According to the SFF, following the expiration of their licences, coaches need to attend refresher courses before being allowed in technical areas during matches, all in line with continental governing body’s licensing system.

The Caf has instituted a licensing system which will force coaches to fulfil some criteria before coaching locally or and in Africa and coaches must hold either a management diploma (managers) or a Caf A License also called Caf Pro licence and the Caf C Refresher is a pathway to achieving this.

The licensing programme seeks to set and promote benchmarks regarding coaching on the continent and help recognise African coaches for their knowledge and experience.

Its key objectives is to ensure that each African coach or any coach operating in Africa possesses the relevant license to perform his or her duties.

The training which incorporates both theoretical and practical modules is being conducted by four local instructors, namely Vivian Both, Rodney Choisy, Marc Mathiot and Joel De-Commarmond.

Among the different topics to be covered are characteristics of young players (12-16 years) and how do they learn, basic application of concept in small sided games (SSG), developing techniques and tactics in young players, basic physical demands in football, developing basic techniques and tactics in SSG and developing football fitness using SSG.

Roland Duval