ANTON CORNEAL, FIFA’s Regional Technical Development Officer for the South East Caribbean, said that with 300 primary school football coaches now formally certified to international standards, Trinidad and Tobago’s football is on “the threshold of achieving a new era of excellence”.
“We will only see the benefit of proper development after eight years, and hopefully this will augur well for better national teams at all levels.” Camille Salandy, Head of Sustainability and Corporate Communications, Atlantic explained that with its final certification seminar, the ACE Programme had concluded its three year-long first phase, and was now gearing up for a second phase in 2016 which will add a focus on governance standards for sports administrators and associations.
“There is still much more work to be done for both cricket and football in terms of exposing coaches and administrators to the best that the sporting world has to offer in the areas of training and sports management,” Salandy said. “Atlantic is willing to help with the process, so that all stakeholders in these sports benefit – coaches, teachers, principals, and most importantly of all, the children themselves, the future of football and cricket in our country.”
The Atlantic Coaching Excellence (ACE) Programme was established in 2012 to support the long-term development of football and cricket by increasing the number of primary school coaches in Trinidad and Tobago with international certification.
For the cricket component of the ACE Programme, 344 coaches received Level 1 international certification from Cricket Australia and another 36 coaches were upgraded to Level 2.
Since the inception of ACE, Anton Corneal has conducted the football component, leading annual regional seminars that helped to upgrade the technical skills of primary school football coaches. Three hundred primary school football coaches who attended these seminars have now been certified.
The ACE Programme also featured an annual Leadership Symposium, where coaches received supplemental training by professionals in sports nutrition, sports psychology, leadership development and life skills.