Confederation of African Football (CAF) D coaching course for Secondary school teachers ended on Friday with a call on the participants to use the knowledge gained to develop womens football in the country.
The course, which started on Monday at Mpira Village in Blantyre, attracted 16 Secondary School Physical Education (P.E) teachers from eight selected schools within Blantyre City.
And speaking during the closing ceremony, Football Association of Malawi (FAM) President Walter Nyamilandu challenged the participants to go out to their respective schools and impart knowledge using the Under 15 league for the betterment of the game.
He said he was very delighted with how his association is developing the womens football in the country, adding that more teachers will be trained to take the game to greater heights.
“Today, we have given certificates to up-and-coming coaches that will be training our girls that are playing active football in secondary schools. We are extremely delighted that another window of opportunity has opened through these teachers who are under the ministry of education. We realized that we cannot develop womens football in isolation hence the need to work hand in hand with schools and teachers as direct partners.
“This is also a special day for us because we are sending a strong signal that we are serious about developing the game by starting from the grassroots, by laying a strong foundation by using the Under 15 competition and by the time we will be looking for Under 17 players for the national team, we will be using these players developed by these trained teachers through the Under 15 league,” he explained.
The FA boss said he expects the teachers to go extra mile in as far as their careers are concerned.
“We expect the teachers to impart knowledge and to be passionate about what they are doing and also to go up the ranks not only to be satisfied with CAF D, we want them to go as far as CAF A so that we indeed develop the game,” he concluded.
Speaking on behalf of the participants, Diana Gausi hailed CAF through the FA for the opportunity to attain the CAF D coaching papers.
“I would describe this course as superb and great. We have benefited a lot as teachers because the knowledge imparted on us is different to what we have been teaching our students. Of course we have been teaching physical education at basic level but now we have looked at football at a coaching level so we are very grateful to CAF through the FA for this opportunity,” she explained.
The course gave special attention to the Physical Education teachers who have been coaching the Under 15 girls Seven-A-side league teams.
The teachers that took part in the course were selected from St Kizito, Chichiri Secondary School, Soche Hill Secondary School, Stella Marris, Kalibu Academy, St Andrews International High School and Trinity Secondary School.
At the end of the course, the participants received certificates, equipment and $1000 for their respective schools.
