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James

Keisha Hill, Staff Reporter

THE PROSPECT of advancing community football in Jamaica is expected to improve significantly as Global Soccer Ministries International (USA), in conjunction with the Waterhouse Football Club, will host an International Community Coaching Education Course from May 8-13.

The sessions are open to coaches at all levels of football in Jamaica. Participants will be taught through lectures, classroom sessions and field sessions at the Liberty Preparatory School and the Waterhouse Mini-Stadium.

At the end of the sessions, each participant will receive a Community Level 2 Certificate-GSM International Coaching.

The course will be directed by international coaching educator and the executive director and founder of Global Soccer Ministries, Paul Banta.

He has coached youth, college and semi-pro teams at the international and national levels, winning more than 600 matches since 1968.

Banta will be assisted by USA, USSF goalkeeper educator Reggie Pierre-Jerome, who is on the coaching staff of Florida Inter-national University and director of the goalkeeping programme at Weston Soccer Club in Florida.

Presenters

Other presenters for the course include Tony James, CONCACAF and FIFA representative, Dale Spencer, first vice president of the Jamaica Football Federation, and Baris Johnson, director of coaching for GSM Jamaica.

The course's content will also include developing coaches as leaders, football tactics relevant to 11 vs. 11, football fitness, tactics in goalkeeping fitness, football nutrition and the role of other coaching staff.

According to Banta in an interview with The Sunday Gleaner, the GSM courses are designed to include what is happening in football around the world and are given to share with coaches new methodology to better develop the youth players.

New methods

"Our expectation for this course in May would be to bring new methods of coaching into Jamaica for coaches to grow in their coaching efforts and inject into them some hope for making it easier to coach and develop the youth player," Banta said.

"I have been coming to Jamaica since the '70s and still many coaches use methods that are out date and get little results. Players are not developing fast enough at the youth level to grow into good, solid youth players that can play at the international level," he said.

"This needs to stop and we need to get on with the game as those around the world are doing it. It can be done with the right resources and the rightcommitment."