Puerto Ricans here for Football Coaching Course

REPRESENTATIVES of Puerto Rico and Guadeloupe will for the first time ever be among 42 coaches from 17 CONCACAF countries to participate in an FA international coaching licence course here.

This course is scheduled to begin tomorrow at the Dr Joao Havelange Centre of Excellence, Macoya. FA instructors Michael Hennigan and Steve Rutter will be conducting the programme which is equivalent to the UEFA “B” Licence, a pre-requisite for the world recognised UEFA “A” Licence. Haiti will be sending two representatives, while three coaches from the United States and two from Mexico will also attend. Other countries participating will be Antigua, Aruba, Barbados, Belize, British Virgin Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Monsterrat, St. Kitts, St. Vincent, US Virgin Islands and hosts Trinidad and Tobago.

Next month, CONCACAF will stage a two-day seminar on tactics and systems of play with FIFA instructor, Trinidadian Alvin Corneal and UEFA technical director Andy Roxborough in charge. Registration for this seminar closes on April 4. “The CONCACAF development programme continues to grow from strength to strength. We are pleased that Guadeloupe and Puerto Rico are represented on this occasion,” said CONCACAF director of development, Richard Braithwaite. He said at the end of this coaching course over 600 persons would have been trained in coaching, administration, sports medicine and refereeing in a two-year period. “Our mission is to make the Centre of Excellence the premier football training facility in the region,” Brathwaite said.