Fiji Football Association (Fiji FA) technical director Ravinesh Kumar is issuing a strong message to all the football coaches in Fiji.
The last cycle of the three-day Senior Coaching Certificate course will be conducted at the Fiji FA Academy in Ba from tomorrow.
Kumar said this is the final opportunity to the coaches who have missed out in the past courses but are coaching the senior (including premier) level at present.
“It is compulsory for those coaches who do not have any certificate and are yet to attend this course because they will not be able to coach a team or stand for a team in the technical area during game time,” Kumar said.
He said this is done to identify the best out of all the senior coaches to attend the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) Senior C-License to be held in April.
“The elite one’s from the OFC Senior C-License will be identified to attend the OFC Senior B-License course at the end of this year which will be hosted by Fiji for the second time, but this will be purely for the Fiji coaches as the first one hosted by Fiji was a regional course.
“I’m expecting at least 18-20 coaches in the OFC Senior B-License course and in order to have these number of coaches for this course, we have to prepare the coaches through this process of senior coaching certificate, then OFC C-License together with their practical sessions, the continuous assessments during the year at their training sessions and during the actual matches.
“This is to monitor and mentor the coaches to improve their coaching standards, to have a better game understanding.
“This will also highlight how to manage senior players which is an important factor in the modern day football.”
Kumar also mentioned the coaches who have achieved the coaching license from outside of Fiji FA and Oceania Confederation, will need to submit their certificates to Fiji FA for verification.
“This is according to the Fiji FA coaching policy passed last year and this policy is very much in line with the OFC coaching policy.
“This is done taking into consideration the new policies which are coming up for Champions League from next year. Currently, any coach who is coaching in Fiji at senior level should have a minimum of senior coaching certificate.
“Furthermore, Fiji FA has also passed that any coach who will be coaching any of the national team’s as a head coach or an assistant coach, should have a minimum of B-License certificate.
He said this is part of Fiji FA’s long term development plan, under the “GOAL”, to create an effective coach education program for all.
“By the end of 2020, all senior districts (and premier) should have a B-License coach.
“This will improve the football environment in time to come, thus improving the football standard at local level will make the competitions more competitive, and as a result, we will get better players for our national teams.
“There are a lot of factors and links related to improving a team and a player, and coach-education/coaches play a vital role in this.”