Caf zonal coaching course for grassroots football-Participants urged to go the extra mile to help southern African football progress |19 November 2007

This is how Seychellois Confederation of African Football (Caf) instructor Ulric Mathiot described grassroots football when introducing to the participants the topic of the ongoing Caf zonal coaching course being held here at the Maison Football, Roche Caïman.

The seven-day course was officially opened on Saturday morning by Seychelles Football Federation (SFF) chairman Suketu Patel in the presence of Youth, Sports and Culture principal secretary Denis Rose and Abdel Moneim Hussein (Caf director of the football development division and a member of the Fédération internationale de football association (Fifa) technical committee).Also present were members of the SFF executive committee and the participants coming from most of the Council of Southern African Football Associations (Cosafa) member countries - Seychelles, Mauritius, South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho, Mozambique, Swaziland, Malawi, Botswana.

While the other countries are being represented by one or two participants, host Seychelles has a greater participation of six coaches – Michel Renaud, Marcel Labiche, Gavin Jeanne, Gerard Bistoquet, Jean-Marc Benstrong and Percy Laramé.

Addressing those present, SFF chairperson Patel, who is also an executive member of Caf and heads the Caf Finance Committee, said that with the organisation of the grassroots coaching course, Caf and Cosafa are realising one of the number of ideas they have for football in Seychelles and Africa.

Noting that football in southern Africa is quite young compared to that of the northern part of the continent, Mr Patel asked the participants to “go the extra mile, do whatever you can to help bridge the gap. Our wish is useless without your efforts.”

For his part, PS Rose noted that his ministry appreciates the fact that “the SFF is doing a lot to develop football in Seychelles, the most popular sport in the world.”

He also asked the participants to make the most of their stay here by taking time to go out sightseeing.

As for Mr Hussein, he talked about the purpose of the course, saying that there is a need to train the trainers so that they can translate the right information and coaching principles with their peers.

He noted that the first grassroots football course for this year is hosted by Seychelles in the best football academy he has ever seen.

“I hope this will be the best course,” he added.
At the end of the seven-day course, which will involve theoretical and practical sessions run by Seychellois Mathiot and Mauritian Govinden Thondoo, the participants will sit for an evaluation and if the instructors are satisfied with their standard of teaching, they will receive diploma certificates.

The first day – Saturday – ended with the participants watching the Land Marine Cup final won by St Michel on a 1-0 score against Anse Réunion thanks to a Philip Zialor free-kick. Each one of them was given a special work to do so that they can make an analysis in a future session.

G. G.