KNVB, Kalusha Foundation, KISE and MYSA train Mozambican Female Coaches

Curtains fell on the 13th of August 2008 on a day that saw the closing ceremony of two very successful coaching courses in Mozambique. The courses made history as they were the first ever female coaching courses to be held in Mozambique. A total of 59 coaches were trained in two different courses.

The courses were organised courtesy of the Royal Netherlands Football Association, Women Win, Nike, The Mutola Foundation, the Olympic Solidarity and the Mozambican Football Association.

Hesterine de Reus and Sandra Awondatu from the Royal Netherlands Football Association, Peter Serry from Kenya Institute of Soccer Education, Enala Phiri from Kalusha Foundation of Zambia and Martha Karimi from Mathare Youth Sports Association formed a very strong instructors team which led the courses.

Hesterine de Reus, an experiences female instructor and Head Coach of the Dutch Female U17 national team was the course leader in the first course while Peter Serry, the Founder and instructor of the Kenya Institute of Soccer Education led the second course.

Most of the participants who attended the courses were primary and secondary school teachers. The first course was done in the Province of Nampula from the 25th of July to the 1st August 2008 of and drew coaches from over 5 provinces. The provinces included Tete, Zambezia, Cape Delgado, Nampula, and Niassa.

The courses were conducted in English and translated into Portuguese by Mr Martinho Fernandes from the Mozambican FA.

The second course was done in the Province of Inhambane and drew coaches from Inhambane, Maputo, Maputo Province, Manica, Sofala, Gaza and Maputo Cidade Provinces.

The female coaches showed a lot of enthusiasm and, given the support they can be able to become very good coaches in future. Not many female coaches are involved in coaching teams in Mozambique. These newly trained coaches have vowed to put what they learnt in the courses into practice by taking the lead in starting to coach teams of different age groups.

The participants were given footballs at the end of the course to enable them have at least a few balls to use in coaching their teams. They were also awarded with participation certificates from the Royal Netherlands Football Association.

Instructors