Rudolf Gaiseb
The Namibia Football Association (NFA) opened a five-day coaching workshop for school coaches in collaboration with the sports ministry and the Namibia School Sports Union on Monday.
The NFA/Westphalia introductory coaching course reflects the Memorandum of Understanding signed between Germany and Namibia in 1994 to develop youth football in Namibia.
The workshop will be facilitated by Carsten Busch, a German instructor from Westphalia who will share his coaching expertise with various coaches who have travelled to attend the workshop from all regions of Namibia in Windhoek.
The workshop is currently underway at the NFA Soccer House in Windhoek until Friday.
Speaking at the opening, deputy sports minister Emma Kantema-Gaomas, said the focal point of the programme is to expose young Namibian boys and girls to early football developments and prepare them for future international competitions.
“The realisation was that for Namibia to compete internationally or to attain excellence at a high level, we needed sportspeople of international repute. Such initiative would transform sportsmen and women into professional athletes who would be able to make a living out of their talents through sports,” she said.
Kantema-Gaomas added that through the agreement, Namibia has been able to produce notable players who went on to make a name for themselves locally and internationally, namely, Collin Benjamin, Ricardo Mannetti, Razundara Tjikuzu, Ronny Kanalelo, and Johannes Hindjou, among others.
According to the technical director of the NFA, Jackey Shipanga, in addition to honing the football skills of boys and girls in schools, the concept of grass-roots development was funded by Fifa to ensure teachers who coach at schools are capacitated.
She further said that players are mostly scouted at school at a young age.
“We need to build the capacity of our teachers because, at the end of the day, school is where most of the boys and girls spend their time.”
Shipanga added that the NFA is seeking to bring knowledge- and capacity-building programmes on board to cater to referees and sports administrators.
“Later in the year, we are also going to give more knowledge and capacity to all media institutions [sport reporters]. We are busy talking to Uefa to sign a partnership agreement so that they can come and empower sport journalists,” said Shipanga.
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