Foreign groups partner Imo FA on refresher course for coaches

By Everest Ezihe, Owerri

Poised by their vision and mission for football development and transformation, the Imo State Football Association, FA has partnered Ave and Berackiah Internationals for one week refresher course program for grassroot coaches.
The program they said are designed to help the indigenous coaches at the grassroot level attain optimum performance for a better footballing community and in line with global best practices.
Barrister Ifeanyi Dike, ( Fela ) the newly elected Imo State FA disclosed this in his opening address of the event at the FA State Secretariat in Dan Anyiam International Stadium, Owerri.
Dike expressed gratitude to Ave International, Berackiah International and ALGON 2023 Grassroots football coaching crew for the collaborative partnership with the State FA for the training conference .
The Football Administrator also thanked the coaches for showing up despite the inconvenient situation and finally extended his appreciation to the media.
He also expressed optimism in his administration’s commitment in ensuring that Imo FA goes any length in support of grassroot advancement of football at the rural areas, which he attested as part of the reason for the coaching clinic.
The football administrator pointed out that by educating the grassroots coaches, it will have ripple effects of reviving sports at the grassroot level. In his contributions, the CEO of Berackiah international, Mr Wonders Nwigbe gave a detailed benefits of the exercise.
According to him, “ taking into cognizance of the fact that when you go into the rural areas, you would notice that some individuals without coaching license and training will pick up a whistle, gather a group of boys and girls together to train and automatically becomes a coach.
“Normally that is the order of the day, now we have come to change that narratives by organizing what we see as refresher course for all football coaches that have interest in advancing the game.
“This program will come with certificates that can only cover the third tier level of football in Nigeria and outside Nigeria.
“What this means is that a coach with our certificate can coach NLO clubs and then outside the shores of Nigeria can also coach in a similar third tier division.
“We have been able to partner with NFF and also UEFA by signing an MoU for 10 years and by the virtue of this, we will still seek an extended partnership when it expires.
“This partnership will enable you coach teams in the NLO and also third tier clubs in Europe.
“The refresher course will last for one week and will include both theory and practical trainings.
“There is something in the pipeline we are working on, We are working on making this program full fledged course. We have applied to NIS and we are waiting for the approval. It will take awhile but we hope it gets the desired result but for now, it is a refresher course”he stated..
“We have partnered with Ave International for this program and that is why we are making it very affordable. The registration fee will be N40,000 Naira.
“ALGON has come in to subsidize the actual cost for the trainees and that is why we pegged it at this amount and with the help of the Imo state FA Chairman we will bring the training for coaches here in Imo state. “ Nwigbe concluded.
Speaking also, the Marketing Manager Ave International , Okechukwu Ovuegbe AKA FIFA said, “this collaboration and training will further enhance football grassroot development, which in turn will have the desired results.
“Ordinarily we would have made it free training but we realized that, people don’t value anything except when they pay for it. So that token payment will significantly become a symbol of the commitment. “ Ovuegbe concluded