INSPORTS expands coaching clinic
A coach takes a youngster through juggling exercises to improve balance and coordination during the recent INSPORTS football coaching clinic in Duhaney Park. ON ANY given Saturday morning, you will find approximately 120 children engaged in various training exercises at the Duhaney Park playing field, on Baldwin Crescent, Duhaney Park.
For the next four and a half weeks, this ground will become a base of sorts each weekend for these youngsters due to another initiative by the Institute of Sports (INSPORTS) as it expands football coaching clinics that teach the fundamentals of the sport with the INSPORTS Duhaney Park Football Coaching Clinic.
This forms part of INSPORTS’ holistic efforts towards the development of football at the community level and its mandate to “fix football” in Jamaica.
Scheduled for 18 weeks, the clinic includes a breakfast feeding programme to ensure that the participants are properly nourished.
The sessions, which will be broadened to facilitate up to 200 by the end of the month, was originally planned for youth aged 10-15 years, but many, as young as six years, have been incorporated in the clinic that has caters to residents of Duhaney Park, Seaview Gardens, Cooreville Gardens, Waterhouse and Pembroke Hall.
Certified coaches, who hail from Duhaney Park, Seaview Gardens and Cooreville have been employed to administer the programme by INSPORTS, which provides all the gear and training equipment. The coaches are also provided with a stipend.
“INSPORTS is taking the process all the way through from start to finish,” noted Ian Andrews, administrative director of INSPORTS, of their latest thrust.
“We first go into various communities across Jamaica and identify and rehabilitate playing fields to host the coaching clinic as well as community matches. We supply the equipment and provide the youngsters with top-quality coaches to help develop their skills.”
GAUGING PROGRESS
He added: “It doesn’t stop there. Intermediary competitions at the community and primary-school levels are also held to gauge the progress of our players and identify areas for improvement.”
The programme is receiving strong community support, with parents being very involved in the process.
“I think it’s a great programme that I really want my son to be involved in,” said Tamara Tucker, whose son numbers among the participants. “That’s why I am here; to make sure that he is getting his training done. He participates in church and school competitions but they don’t have a structured programme in place, so this is a really good initiative from INSPORTS.”
The INSPORTS islandwide coaching programme is an initiative geared towards steering the development of young players in the fundamentals of the game. Teaching and correcting proper techniques from an early age will prime players for professional advancement in the sport, with the overarching aim of producing talented Jamaican footballers.