AIFF Media Team

NEW DELHI: The All India Football Federation along with 21 other Member Associations of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) participated in the first ever AFC Women’s Coaching Tutors Course that concluded yesterday (June 29, 2017) in Shanghai, China.

Representing India in the Course that kicked-off on June 20 were Head Coach of the Indian U-16 National Team Maymol Rocky and Goalkeeping Coach of the Indian Senior National Team Ronibala Chanu.

According to the duo, the Course, acted as a value addition to their Footballing knowledge and promises to help Women’s Football in the nation. Over the course of ten days, the main objective of the Course was to train and promote talented Women Coaches to become Coach Educators.

“The Workshop focused on how as a Coach Educator we have to train Coaches in the Nation. Basically, the workshop gave us an insight of being a teacher to upcoming coaches”, said Maymol Rocky.

“Women’s Football in India is on a rise and the number of Women Coaches have also increased in the nation. It is imperative to tutor those young and upcoming coaches”, she added.

In India, the number of Women Coaches easily exceeds 300 whilst the number of Women Footballers in the Nation is more than 2000.

“It is no secret that Women’s Football is growing rapidly in India”, said Ronibala. “The Course helped us develop as tutors and educators so that in turn we can educate the upcoming coaches”

“For Women’s Football to progress it is necessary to have the best Coaches from the Grassroots. As Coach Educators it is our job to promote and train young coaches”

All the 25 participating members in the Course had either an AFC ‘A’ License or an AFC ‘B’ License. The tutors at the programme were AFC’s Assistant Technical Director and Head of Coach Education Wim Koevermans and UEFA pro-licensed coach and former head coach of the Netherlands, Russia, Scotland and South Africa women’s national teams Vera Pauw.