Petronella Douny only M’sian to attend 1st AFC Women’s Tutors Course
KOTA KINABALU: Highly promising women coach Petronella Douny vows to help in the development of football in the state and country.
The Sabahan coach said this as she continues to impart herself with valuable knowledge and experience via courses held within and outside of the country.
The latest being the 1st AFC (Asian Football Confederation) Women’s Tutors Course that was held in Shanghai, China recently where she was the only Malaysian among the 25 participating coaches.
The rest are from the 22-member AFC as well as a representative of the Oceania Football Confederation and the Papua New Guinea Football Association.
The countries participating were Australia, Guam, Bhutan, Nepal, Bahrain, UAE, Cambodia, Myanmar, Hong Kong, Singapore, Islamic Republic of Iran, Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Chinese Taipei, Vietnam, Philippines, India and China.
“After attending the course, I hope to keep developing women’s football, especially in Sabah or Malaysia,” said Petronella, 29, who is already a holder of the AFC Licence B.
In a statement yesterday, she said the main objective of the course was to train and promote talented women coaches to become coach educators, leaders and role models for future women’s team coaches.
All the participating coaches have an ‘A’ or ‘B’ coaching certificate, a prerequisite for participation.
The tutors at the programme were former international stars who are now AFC’s assistant Technical director and head of Coach Education Wim Koevermans and UEFA prolicensed coach and former head coach of the Netherlands, Russia, Scotland and South Africa women’s national teams Vera Pauw.
For the record, the course, held from June 20 to 30, was initiated by AFC Women’s Football Committee chairwoman Moya Dodd.
The Chinese Football Association (CFA) and Shanghai FA hosted the programme at the Shanghai Oriental Green Boat Training Centre, which is an elite athlete training centre, with national youth players on hand for practical sessions.
The AFC tutors’ course was a “full package”, including new coaching techniques, styles and advice on how to be a more effective instructor to guide future coaches in becoming Asian role models.