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Grassroots Football National Week-New coaches learn about ‘education and fun’ football programme |24 November 2011

Grassroots Football National Week-New coaches learn about ‘education and fun’ football programme

Instructor Thondoo during yesterday's session with the delegates

The coaching course which was launched yesterday by the SFF secretary general Jemmy Adela is also part of the activities to commemorate Grassroots Football national week – 23-27 November– which is  this year being celebrated under the theme “Grassroots Football to our Young Communities”

It is being run by Fédération Internationale de Football Association ( Fifa ) instructor Mauritian Govinden Thondoo and will enable those involved to better study every facet of the grassroots programme, including methodology, safety, technical aspects and small-sided games.

It will also cover Grassroots Festival, a celebration of football which gives each participating team the chance to play the same number of games, which are interspersed with exercises, while the main idea remain that no overall winner is being declared at the end of the day.

According to Confederation of African Football and Fifa coaching instructor Ulric Mathiot, who is also the SFF technical director, other than the coaching course and a photo exhibition they will be organising two football festivals to as part of the Grassroots Football national week. One will be held on Saturday at the Freedom square playing field between 9am and 10am, while the other one will take place at the Baie Ste Anne Praslin field on Sunday.

Mr Mathiot said since its launch in November last year, the programme has gathered a large group of children and the interest is still growing. He added that the SFF is working on strategy to encourage more girls to be active in the programme. Other than offering training coaches and creating a grassroots development structure, the SFF is encouraging parents and volunteers to take part in the programme. They are also looking into the possibility to forge bonds and create links with all stakeholders and also to increase the programme’s visibility and attract interest from the general public.

The Grassroots football national week which stresses on the notion of both education and fun for the children also conclude the national football season.

Since 2009, the Fifa Grassroots programme has encouraged football stakeholders to place a high priority on football development for children between the ages of six and 12 years old. In the last three years, in 70 different countries, coaches have been taught by Fifa’s Development team how to organise and develop grassroots football, with the help of the official Fifa grassroots manual.

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