27 Nov 2018

Botswana Football Association (BFA) has organised a grassroots coaching course to capacitates coaches and young referees.

This, according to BFA chief executive officer, Mfolo Mfolo was done to develop skills from grassroots level, which he said was the most important aspect of football development.

 He said during the launch of the grassroots coaching course in Gaborone on November 26 that BFA also had the course to as to improve football in the country.

Mfolo said BFA could only grow if they developed skills both on and off the field as per their strategy.

He pointed out that it was important that the right skills were taught from the foundation arguing that without grassroots developement, there would be no signage into youth development.

“Therefore, as instructors are gathered here to be developed, we believe that it is a mileage for uplifting the prospects of our football,” he said.

The young referees, he said needed to be developed so that they were conversant with laws of the game adding that would help them to be contemporary with what was happening in the field of play.

FIFA coaching instructor, Mathiot Ulrich commended BFA for training the next generation of referees and coaches.

He said this was the third course in Botswana adding that alone was a clear indication that the country was efficient in organising courses. 

Furthermore, Ulrich said the initiative was also an indication that the association was in a good position to propagate the idea of grassroots to reach other maximum people as possible.

He noted that the association could only reach their large population only if they had a pool of instructors.

“This is a good sign because you are already setting up your goals for the coming cycle, and this is what federations are asked by FIFA to do to prepare their next cycle of development for 2019-2022,” he said.

FIFA’s grassroots programme helps member associations in setting up their grassroots level development programmes while training local coaches-educators to the specifics of teaching grassroots football for boys and girls from age 6-12.

The programme also covers organising festivals for children to participate and provides equipment for coaches and young players. ENDS