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The Coaching Development Programme

This programme has the following among its objectives:

• To ensure that a sufficient number of trained coaches are available for selection by clubs in the country
• To ensure the development of Coach Educators (to train other coaches). Currently, there are nine (9) trained Coach Educators - Instructors, two of whom can no longer be considered to be part of the programme due to circumstances beyond our control
• To establish a skills upgrade path for our national team coaches whose formal credentials should of necessity be higher that other coaches being trained in the lower level courses
• To establish a trained panel of selectors to identify talent for the national teams at the many inter-provincial competitions we run every year

Whilst the Level One Coaching Course was well-received as a step in the right direction by the general public, several concerns were raised:

• What are the selection criteria/minimum qualification standards for the course?
• Who decides on the admission of participants?
• How do we track the progress of the course’s graduates?
• How do we create opportunity for the persons we have trained?

These questions had to be answered if we were to show the long-term benefits of the courses we offer. Simply training coaches and not providing them with opportunities for employment within football made very little sense.

The following are the medium-to-long-term objectives for the Football Education Department in the area of coaching development:

1. Specifying the Criteria for Selection to the Coaching Courses
2. Continue to Train Coaches at Introductory level
3. Continue to Train Coaches at Level One
4. Continue to Train Coaches at Level Two
5. Start the Level Three Training Cycle in 2005
6. Start the Youth Coaching Course in 2005
7. Start the Instructors Course in April 2005
8. Start the Goalkeeper Coaching Course in 2005
9. Conduct a Special Course for Legend / PSL coaches in 2005
10. Establish the NSL / PSL Coaches Forum
11. Establish the Congress of South African Football Academies
12. The Talent Identification System to be established by 2005
13. The Credentialing, Licensing and Validation of Coaches
14. Technical Analysis of International Match Reports
15. Provision of Technical Assistance to National Teams
16. Technical Supervision of National Teams
17. Summary of Football Education Department Objectives