Twelve coaches participated in the Concacaf C Licence Course staged by the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) in association with Concacaf recently.

They are Tashana Vincent (National Girls’ Under-20 assistant coach), Alicia James (National Girls’ Under-17 assistant coach), Dwayne Ambursely (Montego Bay United), Ludlow Bernard (Harbour View), Lenworth Hyde (Portmore United), David Laylor (Cavalier), Eric Rademakers (Arnett Gardens), Oneil Thompson (Humble Lion), Phillip Williams (Tivoli Gardens), Marlon Hylton (JFF Technical Committee), Andrew Sewell (Waterhouse), and Marvin Tate (Montego Bay).

All clubs scheduled to participate in the upcoming Jamaica Premier League season were invited.

This was phase one of the Train the Trainers programme which aims to build competence and prepare coach educators to deliver on Concacaf courses. It consisted of a three-day workshop for coach educators designed around a four-day Concacaf C Licence course for national teams and Premier League coaches.

The Train the Trainers Programme was led by Concacaf’s coach developer and former Trinidad Technical Director Anton Corneal. The coach educators from the JFF were Andrew Peart, Merron Gordon, Vassel Reynolds, Xavier Gilbert, and Rudolph Speid.

Lamar Morgan and Andrew Sewell participated as educators specialing in physical preparation and goalkeeper coaching education, respectively.

The programme focused on leadership, communication, the similarities and differences between a coach educator and a coach, roles and responsibilities of the coach educator, adult learning principles and reality-based learning.

Some of the areas covered on the Concacaf C Licence include Leadership, game analysis, moments of the game, principles of attack and defence, planning training sessions, practically delivering training sessions, periodisation, providing feedback, and reflection.

The Train the Trainers programme for this cohort will be a year-long programme with coach educators now undertaking a development and a mentoring period which includes delivering JFF D Licence courses starting in January. Following that, they will be assessed on the delivery of the four Concacaf Licence Courses to come in 2022.

The 12 coaches from the course will also undergo a development period of eight weeks which includes planning and delivering sessions. They will be mentored by JFF coach educators as they work on their personal development plan, analysis of and strategies to develop their environment, documenting their reflection and peer evaluation. Throughout the eight-week development period, they will be assessed formatively (practical delivery plus a presentation).

In 2022, the JFF and Concacaf will be staging four C Licence courses.

Additionally, the number of Concacaf B Licence coaches in Jamaica has now increased from 24 to 27 as Patrick Graham, Laurence Garriques and Davion Ferguson all completed their assessment.