The Egyptian capital, Cairo, is playing host to Technical Directors of Member Associations (MA’s) for a three-day continental seminar towards improving the technical and tactical aspect of the African game.
The seminar scheduled for 22-24 January 2019, has been described by CAF Deputy General Secretary, Anthony Baffoe as a key milestone towards re-establishing the CAF coaching courses and will also equip participants with the right tools to develop coaching and grassroots football in their respective countries.
Topics being covered include the Role of the Technical Director, the Organization of the Technical Development Department, Coaching Convention, FIFA Forward Application and Plan amongst others.
“The main objective of this seminar is to have a common vision across all the MAs in Football development. We need to make sure that all the principal actors involved in football development share a unified vision regarding the content, evaluation criteria and coaches’ recruitment. It is very important to have almost all the MA’s represented at the seminar,” said Nasser Larguet, CAF Technical & Development Committee member.
He underlined commitment to youth and women’s football development as crucial elements to the growth of the game on the continent.
“Women’s football has a bright future and we have a lot to do. Regarding youth football, it is essential to focus and identify elite players in academies, schools and universities. It is a whole chain and we have to develop the base to improve elite football,” he added.
The participating Technical Directors will be also introduced to the use of the GPS device supplied by CATAPULT - a measuring tool for outdoor team sports players worn on the chest (vest) to collect data.
Following a partnership between CAF and CATAPULT last year, 2,650 PLAYERTEK devices were supplied to MA’s to help optimize performance, reduce injury risk among others. The deal marks a significant investment into elite performance technology and the device aims to improve the performance of athletes and teams coupled with sports science and analytics.
One of the participants, Ali Mwebe of Uganda said: “It is a pleasure to understand what FIFA Forward program requirements entail. We are so eager to see the new procedures for coaching courses to be equipped with the right information to transfer it to our coaches back home in our respective countries”.
Fifty (50) Technical Directors are taking part in the seminar, organized by the CAF Technical Department with the support of FIFA experts.
Source: cafonline.com