A total of 14 individuals, inclusive of current youth national coaches and former players, were awarded CONCACAF W ‘C’ Licence certificates and C Licences, respectively, following the completion of the training programme conducted by the Guyana Football Federation (GFF), which included theoretical and practical sessions.
This is according to a press release from the federation. According to the correspondence, the recipients of the W ‘C’ licences were Amanda Angoy, Chevon Mochoir, Donette Bassoo, Jenel Walker, Jenell Browne, Rhesa Pompey, and Sheron Abrams, while the ‘C’ licences were awarded to Lady Jags assistant coach Akilah Castello, Colin Nelson, Under-15 Boys’ National Team Coach Devnon Winter, Lennox Adams, Levi Braithwaite, GFF Coaches Education Officer Lyndon France, and Under-20 Men’s National Team coach Wayne Dover. Unfortunately, 12 individuals failed in the certificate section, while six failed in the license segment.
“The two courses were conducted in succession by the Guyana Football Federation’s Education Department, which continues to focus on efforts to grow homegrown coaching talent, including women, to develop the game nationally. The internationally recognized training programs provided coaches with the skills and knowledge to design and deliver effective coaching sessions for a wider range of players and scenarios, especially for youth football development, through the GFF’s nationwide network of Academy Training Centres (ATC)”, the release stated.
GFF 1st Vice President Brigadier Bruce Lovell said, “We are indeed thankful and grateful that you participated and that you applied yourselves with diligence and commitment to successfully complete the courses. The success of football rests on a tripod; there are the players, the referees, and you, the coaches. If one leg of that tripod is weak, the tripod cannot provide the base to support football success. As coaches, you have the important task of molding the knowledge, skills, and attitudes of our youth. It’s a responsibility you need to take seriously and seek to continuously hone your skills.”
GFF Technical Director Bryan Joseph said, “Our ladies need time to improve their competencies as coaches; what better opportunity to achieve this by coaching consistently with the ATCs? With the inclusion of the coaches on the staff, we will be encouraging them to have female-specific sessions for young girls at a grassroots level. The female coaches will eventually become full-time members of staff on a monthly stipend similar to the current ATC coaches.”
Guyana is the fifth nation in the CONCACAF jurisdiction to conduct the ‘C’ level coaching programme, which is geared towards providing more than 300 female coaches with the opportunity to coach at various levels of the sport.
GFF Coach Linsworth Gilbert, who was also an invigilator during the programme, said, “Even though coaches may not receive a certificate today, they still have an opportunity to develop and achieve the qualification by continuing to coach and being able to apply themselves based on the requirements of the Concacaf pillars of development, which are leadership, management, teaching, coaching, planning, and preparing. So, the coach educators will continue to manage and monitor those coaches in their various environments to allow them to come back and do the various aspects of the program that are necessary to continue to develop.”
Meanwhile, newly accredited CONCACACF ‘C’ license holder Levi Braithwaite disclosed that the programme was “a bit challenging at first. It was kind of wavering at some stages in the theatrical part of the program, with so many assignments to do in such a short time, but nevertheless, I did manage.”
He further said that the “practical part of it was a normal thing for me because I’m constantly coaching at the academy at my club, so it came naturally. In a nutshell, it was all good.”
Also, Chevon Mochoir, a CONCACAF W ‘C’ Licence holder, stated that the training programme enhanced her understanding of the various aspects and tenets of coaching, which will aid in her team’s holistic development.
