Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Promoting the future of coaches

In the last two weeks, I met 22 coaches in my town in two separate groups. I still have a long itinerary to do so with many other willing coaches. Details of the meetings will be forwarded to the relevant authorities for the sake of coach education and development.

Generally, there is animosity and mistrust at lower leagues. The coaches are owners and coaches of their clubs, and then few are elected into offices of authority to run the affairs of others. The suspicions of working in their own interests at the detriment of others are rife. It reminded of a question I always poised; how a huge city like this one loses teams into LFA leagues.
You may know this story. Three greedy brothers left their rural home to look for greener pastures in the city. Upon their arrival, they could not believe their fortune, stumbling upon a bag full stuffed with crisp notes of hard cash. Since they were very hungry from their sojourn, the youngest was sent to buy food.
He bought the best food, probably fried chicken, and poisoned it. Arriving at the brothers, they stood up, grabbed and killed him on the spot. Before they shared the money, they ate the poisoned food and all died. Along came a foreigner running away from xenophobic attacks, picked the bag and smile all the way to the bank.

Unless men work together, all lose. Football success is directly proportional to the positive input of all stakeholders. The state of football affairs here is dire but solutions are simple, though long term. The obvious challenge borders around the bad experiences of the past.
The consequence of the broken promises is the increased number of naysayers. Many do not even believe they are breathing, no matter how much one tries to prove it to them. The starting point would be basic education school and then life skills to many coaches.
It becomes apparent how successful negative football has been over the years, and how much energy and power is necessary to instil football coach education. It is not a one-night stand, but a long and solid marriage that can build our game to its true potential.

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