We need quality coaches to develop our Football from grassroot level
Further to my discussion I had with the Incumbent President of the FFSL and its top officials and to the subsequent article which appeared in the Sunday Times of 3rd April 2016 under the caption “concentrate on school and playground football for a better future” I wish to emphasis on the subject of coaching which is a very important aspect for the development of football in the schools and playgrounds at the grass-root level. I have briefly touched on the urgent problems that confront our football, as I see it and sincerely trust a fair degree of attention on these identified areas would greatly help to put the game in its feet where it rightly deserved to be.
The reason in our soccer which does not produce desired results in international competitions is that we have miserably failed to produce skillful players who do not know their basic skills which should be got to from a small age ideally 10 to 12 years. Here the coaches at school and playground level have to play an important role training our kids from the grass-root level. Unfortunately in our football, the absence of purposeful and meaningful basic pattern of skills training towards our kids has caused a slump in our playing standard. Perhaps this is due to the young players not being taught the ABC of football at the grass-root level. At the inception they have been wrongly handled by incompetent individuals who call themselves as qualified coaches. This is indeed a crime and tends to ruin the future of a young talented player’s future.
Football being a highly skillful sport, if not properly handled when they are young, not taught their basic skills and individual responsibilities, things become difficult when they are matured. Therefore basic skills and techniques have to be taught at a tender age and tactics instilled in their formative years. The growth of a player to national or international standards depends primarily on the degree of skills he has mastered in the boyhood days. It is very easy to impart these lessons into the minds of the young and youthful players, whose minds and muscle are both fresh and free from all disturbances and distractions. Therefore it is vital importance that the young ones are trained and handled by the correct teachers who know their subject.
If one looks at the present day players both at club and national level, it will not be surprising to note that the majority of them cannot kick with both feet effectively. Heading the ball is a lost art. Reading the game of the opponent is non-existent. What we see in the fields is just kick the ball and run without any football sense or planning an attack or counter move is absent. We see in the field is instant action and not planned re-action. It is these aspects that makes play entertaining and interesting, richer and meaningful in quality. Who are sole people who could instill these finer points in the player? Certainly the right coaches.
It is relevant in this juncture to note with pride, the gigantic steps made by our cricketers in reaching world standards. They were not produced as a result of a waving of a magic wand or from under a top hat of a magician.
These high standards were achieved as a result of a meaningful and methodical promotional program in our schools. Football which is less expensive and less time consuming must be accepted as a curriculum sport in our schools. The Controlling Body of Football should conduct a series of technical programs to equip physical training instructors and coaches attached to schools and playgrounds, with initially a basic method of coaching the young ones. Out of a near 4000 schools in the country of which more than 2000 school have playing facilities, it is regrettable to note that at present only a few schools take part in any organized school football competitions .
So how could the game blossom? From where could we provide the players? Is there indeed a future? It is not my intention in this article to deal at length on the multifarious aspects of training for justice could never be done to such an enormous subject in a matter of a brief passage or two. My rather limited comments on the subject was only to draw the attention to the vital importance of knowing and understanding the wide and varied field of training and the need to select persons for training as coaches with the requisite background , so that eventually the sport at school, club and national level would greatly benefit. We direly need coaches of quality, structure and standing if we are to raise the performing level of our football.
A successful coach is a person who is both professionally knowledgeable and exemplary in conduct. Knowledge alone does not and will not a success of a coach’s task. For teachings to get lodged in the mind of the student, exemplary conduct on the part of the teacher himself is absolutely necessary. Where there is bad conduct and example by the coach nothing would hold or grow in the mind of the pupil, however brilliantly presented. Regularity and punctuality at training, credibility and integrity in his dealings, etiquette and manners in his association and tone and speech in his communication are pre-requisites for the ideal coach.
He must be honest to his job and work with commitment, work with the players with an open mind without taking into consideration their cast, creed, family status, personal background, the school they represent and the area from where they come and so on. If a coach could adhere to these principles, it will make his task much easier and he will be able to produce fruitful results even with a moderate team. Coaching, though in itself a vast subject it is essentially a simple exercise to those who know genuinely the finer art of the profession. While the game has developed as a major national sport, we have not produced quality coaches in proportion to this growth. Certainly a complete change in the technical aspect of the game is essential.
Knowledgeable and experience coaches must be invited and assign them to train the coaches in the schools and playgrounds, initially at the grass-root level and later to various stages. Here the Controlling Body has a very vital role to play and make a concerted effort to train the local coaches’ island wide through training programs, seminars and workshops without further delay to help them and assist them to increase their coaching skills and ability. Nothing in life has ever grown or shall grow in the absence of nurseries. Schools and playgrounds are our nurseries and the seeds necessarily must be sown there. Skills and techniques must be imparted to children in age group of 12, 14 and 16 so that they will adopt themselves to the game technically and tactically early in life.
It is in the developing tender mind and muscle that the seeds of skill and technique could be sown and grown and if we fail to this paramount important aspect, we can be sure there will be a dearth of players soon or later and with it, probably the end of our football. The kids and youths are the assets of our country. This resource should be properly handled and guided by the correct coaches who are trained for the job. If by some stroke of bad luck, these young ones are handled by those individuals who through sheer love of the game without proper coaching knowledge and experience may be blind to fact that they are leading the players into a football misery, what we witness today at school or club level.
The Controlling Body must draw a sensible program to train these coaches under knowledgeable and experience person, guide and advice them to improve their coaching talent and ability. Those who perform well at school and club level must be given opportunities to follow advance training courses here and abroad. I conclude by quoting: It is certainly not the high sounding credentials, certificates or licences gained here and abroad that makes one an effective and successful coach. It is the ability of the coach to build up a team with discipline, perform well in the field and produce fruitful results what finally matter.