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Football : The Intriguing World of National Team Coaches (11.10.2006)
Cameroon’s national football teams (senior, junior, cadet, women, A’, Benjamin, minims) are not only sports entities, but veritable units of national integration and diplomatic projection. Wherefore, the numerous actions taken to develop the teams to ensure that they produce good results. The general vision and mission are given by the government and the Cameroon Football Federation. But the persons who make these dreams come true are the players and indisputably the coaches. In effect, coaches are the people around whom the world of football revolves, little wonder they are raised to the ranks of demi-gods when their teams win and axed when their players fail to deliver the goods.
Although some sceptics have been quick to relegate the role of a coach to that of a mere observer in the squad, it is around the coach that a team is built. Even the most talented player or team with highest concentration of talents, need the services of a coach; not just any one, but a good one. The jobs of coaches in teams are inestimable. Their work includes, planning and delivering training sessions and programmes to develop the knowledge, techniques, understanding and motivation of their squads or individual players. They also help to provide feedback and offer advice on players` performance, fitness, technical skills and team working. In the same light, they develop and discuss strategies and tactics for both individual and team play, give guidance on nutrition, and injury recognition and prevention when working with competitive teams. Above all, they advise players on the need to maintain a positive mental attitude and self-discipline. At a higher level such as the national football teams, the coaches analyse matches, design innovative training methods and programmes to develop and provide opportunities for young people to get involved in sporting activities.
Cameroon, being a football nation, has its fair share of coaches. Following an inventory by the National Technical Department of
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Football, there are about 30 coaches of international repute, 49 with intermediate qualifications, eight specialised for training goalkeepers and one specialised in physical training. The coaches, most of whom have basic training in Physical Education from the National Advanced School of Youths and Sports, have had special professional training in coaching at home and abroad. Understandably why they can be appointed to top managerial positions in the national football teams. Besides the senior national football team that have come to be regarded as a preserve for foreigners, the rest of the national squads are test grounds for national coaches. And they have had their fair share of good results. This notwithstanding, there is a growing demand for true professional football coaches in Cameroon. Reason for the multiplicity of training courses.
One of such training courses began yesterday in Yaounde. The seven-day course seeks to train first level football educators. These are people who will coach children between six and 12 years, that is from the Starters to the Benjamins who form the base of the football pyramid. Focus on this stage of training is on making a child recognise the intrinsic talents of a footballer, make him learn more about the game and notions of sports ethics. Nowadays, it is an incontestable route to becoming an elite player. But like Dominique Wansdi, National Technical Director for Football says, the demand for qualified coaches is still enormous in Cameroon as just 10 per cent of clubs have qualified trainers. Following FIFA classification, Cameroon has moved from the basic level in the technical aspect of football to the intermediate level. The objective is to reach the top level by 2010. And this can only be through training. Such training will make local coaches enthusiastic, patient, give them good organisational and planning skills; make them flexible and ensure that they have the ability to offer tactful and positive advice all qualities needed by an elite coach.
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