AIFF Media Team

The A-Licence Course conducted by All India Football Federation successfully ended at the Father Agnel Sports Complex in Navi Mumbai. The Course which was attended by 24 Coaches from all across the Country ended with a series of Practical Exams and a discussion about the role of A-License Coaches in Indian Football.

Course Conductor Robert Baan, the Technical Director of All India Football Federation informed www.the-aiff.com about “interesting discussions” during the tenure of the 28-day Course.

“At the outset we discovered there was big gap as far as the contents of the former Course and the new Content was concerned. The participants took a bit of a time to settle down but very soon understood about our match-related approach,” Baan said.

“As we progressed, we had some very interesting discussions between the Participants and Instructors,” he added. “The most significant point was that all the Participants agreed to improve the level of football in the Country. Very often it’s seen that Coaches holding Degrees go back to their Public Sector Organisations and not devote their knowledge for the development of the sport. That’s unfortunate,” he maintained. “But this time, everyone has promised to pass on their expertise to the footballers.”

Scott O’Donell, Technical Director, AIFF Academies and Director, Coach Education thanked the management of Father Agnel School for their support. “The cooperation which we received from Father Agnel School authority was magnificent. I’d also like to thank our Academy Managers Shailesh Karkera and Rohit Thorat for ensuring everything went off smoothly,” he quipped.

“All the Participants who worked very hard and stayed committed all throughout, were also very open to the new philosophy of Indian Football,” he added.

The Course which was divided over two modules covered areas such Fitness Development, Video Analysis, Media Management, Administration of a Professional Football Club and other Technical matters.

Besides Baan and O’Donell who were the Principal Lecturers, the list of Guest Lecturers included the likes of Chirag Tanna (General Manager, Pune FC); Henry Menezes (CEO, WIFA); Nilanjan Datta (Media Manager, AIFF); Dr. Tariq Wasim (Fitness Trainer and Physiotherapist, Pune FC); Shankar Sigamani (Video Analyst, AIFF); Sonika Sudan (Physiotherapist, AIFF Regional Academy) and Mohd. Yusuf Ansari (Goalkeeping Coach, AIFF Regional Academy) amongst others. Santosh Kashyap also conducted a session on 'Coaching in an I-League Club.'