RESPECTIVE Digicel Premier League coaches Andrew Price and Baris Johnson of Boys’ Town and Waterhouse were among 90 local individuals who graduated with Advanced Level One Certificates of Acheivement from the JMMB/JFF/UTech Coaching School recently.

Other notable coaches receiving the award at a ceremony held at the JFF headquarters in New Kingston on Tuesday were Wayne Fairclough of Arnett Gardens; Gregory Hall, assistant coach at Waterhouse; Christopher Bender, former coach of Humble Lion; Rudolph Speid of Cavalier and Mark Miller and Wayne Palmer.

However, it was the lower level coaches — Orion Smith, Anthony Scott and Haile Mikha’el — who were the top achievers in the three courses conducted over a period of four months.

The course, which was conducted in three batches, saw Smith topping Cohort Five, Scott Cohort Six and Mikha’el Cohort Seven.

This was the ninth course since the inception of the programme — seven Advanced Level One and two Advanced Level Two.

Participating coaches came from various local leagues, including Super League, Manning and DaCosta Cups, the Digicel Premier League, preparatory and primary schools.

Some persons were allowed to sit the basic coaching science module only, having been exempt from the Technical Football Preparation edition.

That decision was taken by a curriculum committee comprising some lecturers in the course and chaired by Dr Colin Gyles of the University of Technology (UTech).

According to lecturer and programme co-ordinator Vin Blaine, the traineees were exposed to various subjects including biomechanics, anatomy and physiology, communications, sports psychology, sports nutrition, planning and preparing a training session, coaching methods and style, technique development, laws of the game, goalkeeping and systems of play.

Blaine said 97 coaches participated in the three Advanced Level One courses held over the period and 92 were awarded Certificates of Achievement, while five got Certificates of Participation.

This means those coaches with Certificates of Achiements passed both modules and those with a participatory certificate passed only one.

Blaine thanked those responsible for the staging and completition of the course. They included main sponsors Jamaica Money Market Brokers Limited, associate partners Wata and Grace Kennedy; Drs Colin Gyles, Neville Graham and Kamila Hylton of UTech; instructors Wendell Downswell, Dr Mark Minott, Dave Meikle, Dr Heather Little-White; lecturer and director of the Coaching School Roy Thomas; the JFF support staff along with St Catherine FA and its support staff.