British Council, Premier League train Lagos, Kano coaches in soccer management
The British Council and the Premier League in United Kingdom have hosted selected grassroot coaches, referees and physical education teachers to a seven-day intensive training on soccer management at the grassroot level.
At a ceremony in Lagos, the British Council Director of School, Education and Society, Ahmed Muhammed said the training programme otherwise known as “Premier Skills” is a partnership training programme between it and the Premier League with the objective to use the message of soccer to spread social knowledge against the menace of child abuse, drug abuse, encourage women equality and inclusion.
“The programme encourages the trained coaches to adapt lessons learnt and develop training sessions in their locality that are appropriate across a range of abilities and disabilities, levels of fitness and age ranges.
“They are also expected to equip their students with life skills to enable them face the future as better citizens,” Muhammed said.
According to Muhammed, the Premier Skill which began in 2007 have seen to the training of 17, 715 coaches and referees, trained across 29 countries and who in turn have reached more than 1.5 million young people.
He added that the selection of coaches in both Lagos and Kano states was carried out in partnership with the respective states ministries of education, the states football associations, the sport commissions, among others.
A senior coach with the Premier League and the League Coach Educator, Paul Hughes said the initiative will help in brightening the future of young people, often including the most vulnerable in society who are being given opportunities to become better integrated into their local communities, to develop their skills for employability and to raise their self-esteem.
“Throughout the week, the trainee coaches received expert training from qualified Premier Skills coaches, equipping them with the skills and support to develop their own community football projects.
The coaches were selected from both Lagos and Kano, two of Nigeria’s most populous states with rich football history.
These coaches were exposed to training techniques to increase their understanding, capacity to deliver, and commitment to training techniques to increase their understanding, capacity to deliver, and commitment to inclusive community football projects.
“The trained coaches will then engage the youth who would not normally have access to similar opportunities,” Hughes said.