Fresh from?completing his first coaching course, former Barbados striker Kenroy Skinner is encouraging more footballers to become certified if they want to become coaches.
Skinner, who is still an active footballer playing for the Youth Milan, recently relegated in the Premier League, was among 19 new coaches who participated in a one-week Barbados Football Association/FIFA?Beginners’ course conducted by Costa Rican Rodrigo Kenton-Johnson.
“I think is very important for more coaches in Barbados to try to get their badges and licences because it is a lot in football that I don’t think we know and we could benefit from those things,” Skinner told MIDWEEK?SPORT.
“It would be a big bonus for the clubs and for the BFA especially because if you have certified coaches, you tend to get more recognition from the head body, FIFA, and we could do a lot more for the country in the different programmes like the grassroots programme. I think the better the coaches, the better the football,” he added.
Skinner said the course could help prospective coaches develop players better in the future.
“I think a lot needs to be done on the development of youth players in?Barbados, because right now I don’t think that is an area that we pay enough attention to,” he said.
Skinner believes a move from player to coach shouldn’t be a difficult task.
“For me, the transition wasn’t hard because I always try to look at the technical side more than anything else and pay attention to detail more so than a lot of other things.”
Another participant, Gregory Thompson of Diamondshire Football Club in St Peter, said the course was very informative.
“It was really an eye opener. It really gave us a vast knowledge of what is expected of coaches and what we here in Barbados have to do to reach the level where we need to be recognized on the football world stage,” Thompson said.
“It was a very good idea of having this coaching course and it was very good for all the participants to take this knowledge back to their home clubs, schools and communities and pass that knowledge on to the youngsters in their communities,” he added.
Inter-active theoretical sessions were held at the Barbados Olympic Association’s headquarters while practical sessions were done at the neighbouring Wildey Football AstroTurf.
The other participants were Ronald Allman, Rodney Barrow, Antonio Boyce, Richard Bynoe, Fitzgerald Carter, Allan Daniel, Ramon Greaves, Christopher King, Nicholas Maitland, Pedro McClean, Anreco Ramsay, Cassius Taitt, Gregory Thompson, Troy Thorpe, Jabar Williams, Wayne ‘Trini” Williams.
Kenton-Johnson, who has also conducted other courses for FIFA?in Jamaica, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, St Kitts and St Lucia, said he would welcome a follow-up course in a year’s time.
“The most important thing for me is that when the participants finished the course, they achieved something new that they can put in their team and use it as another tool to develop the game,” he said.
