Former national team goalkeeper Clayton Ince was among the participants in the TTFF/Dutch KNVB “C” License Coaching Course for the Northern Football Association which ended at the Hasely Crawford Stadium on Friday.
The course was the second among the regional associations thus far with the TTFF instructors have conducted another for the Southern FA at the Rousillac Community Centre last month.
Ince as well as former national striker Nigel Pierre and defender Ian Gray underwent the five-day course with other representatives among the thirty coming from clubs such as Harvard, Queen’s Park CC, Savannah FC, Adam’s Construction San Juan Jabloteh, Police FC and Skeene/Hyacinth Football Institute among others.
National youth team trainer Gilbert Bateau past national senior team equipment manager Esmond O’Brien as well as ex-national Geoffrey Hospedales also opted to test their ability at the course.
Ince was all too encouraged by the practical and classroom sessions.
“It’s been a learning process. I’ve been playing for many years and it’s just a turning chapter now going into the coaching side of it,” Ince told TTFF Media.
“My observation of what is lacking in the football down here is discipline and professionalism and the finer things which we don’t usually pay attention to. So it’s not just a matter of learning to coach for me but rather about correcting things that we tend to let pass. This course augers well for our coaches. We tend to let things slide because of what we say is our culture but we have to change this culture if we want to go forward in the game. We have to come out of that comfort zone,” added the ex-Defence Force and Walsall custodian.
Northern FA President Roland Forde also expressed satisfaction with the running of the course.
“This is definitely going to bring some form of benefit to the football on the Nothern FA particularly for the community clubs. We have wide conception of clubs in the NFA From Carenage to St James to Barataria and we’ve had an overwhelming response from participants which may lead to us having a second course for the NFA,” Forde said.
“We are seeing some of the candidates being past national and professional players which is a very positive sign for the development of the clubs from a coaching standpoint. It’s nice to see some of the past players coming back into the fray and the TTFF and by extension the regional associations will continue to work towards ensuring that there is a collective effort to develop the game locally,” he added.
Close to 150 local coaches have been certified by the TTFF/Dutch KNVB through the “C” license course since it began earlier this year and this number will continue to grow as the Federation conducts further courses in other parts of the country. The KNVB Academy is the Educational Department of the Royal Netherlands Football Association (KNVB). The KNVB Academy was founded in 1996 to concentrate all educational programs for Dutch football in one body, and is headquartered at Zeist. The operations of the KNVB Academy are focused on development of coaches, referees and administrators both in Holland and internationally.