TWENTY-ONE local coaches started the third Netball Jamaica/UTech Level One Coaching Course Saturday morning at the University of Technology, the highest number to register for any of the three courses so far.

Marva Bernard, president of Netball Jamaica, who addressed the opening ceremony, said as of December 2015, all coaches in the high school system and higher must have the Level One certificate or the GC Foster College certification in order to coach.

President of the International Federation of Netball Associations (IFNA) Molly Rhone lauded the participants for taking the step to invest in themselves which comes at a great cost even though IFNA had assisted with the overall costs to stage the course.

She pointed out that there are opportunities all across the Caribbean and the wider world for coaches who can now earn a living in that area.

Rhone, a Jamaican, said that the sport of netball is currently growing at a faster pace than they can find qualified coaches.

At this stage, it’s mostly the top-three countries — Australia, New Zealand and England — that have been supplying coaches, but with number four-ranked Jamaica staging these courses, the island can be a source for coaching talent.

One of the graduates of the first staging in 2012, Christopher Smart, endorsed the course, saying that it had made him a better coach. Since then he has won two competitions and came second in the inaugural Berger Elite League with the St Catherine Racers team, who lost to Kingston Humming Birds.

Smart, the first male coach to be appointed at the senior level, is now head

coach of Netball Jamaica’s development squad.

Roy Pryce who is a well known netball coach, said that he expected to be a better coach at the end of the course. He indicated that he intends to apply for a coaching position in the Berger Elite League next year as he will have a lot to offer at that level.

Andre Waugh, who is responsible for technical sport certification at UTech, lauded the partnership with Netball Jamaica. He said that the objective is to ensure

that Jamaica’s coaching infrastructure is developed, maintained and leads to

the improvement of the performance of the Sunshine Girls in the long run.

The course will run for six weeks and some of the topics to be covered are nutrition, anatomy, sport psychology, fundamentals of netball skills and sport management.

Participants will sit a theory and a practical exam at the end of the six weeks.