British coaches are passing on their expertise. Ghada Abd El-Kader reports Aspiring Egyptian coaches in football recently received lessons given by British teachers. The English Premier League and British Council Project, in co-operation with the Egyptian National Council for Sports, held the young coaches project. Two courses will be held during each year of this three-year project. The total number of participants during the three years will be 340. The first course was called Premier Skills. The four-day (21-24 March) course was held at Shooting Club in Cairo. The second will be in June in Smouha Sports Club in Alexandria. "There are some criteria for the participants in this course," Mohamed El-Kurdi, assistant coordinator. "The coaches should be from various governorates, knowledgeable in sports and teachers of sports from the faculty of sports education. There is a protocol between the Egyptian National Council for Sports and Ministry of Education to spread sports in schools. The ages of participants are from 18-35." The first course had 40 participants from eight governorates including Assuit, Menia, Sohag, Tanta, Beni Suef and Menoufiya. Among the participants were two young coaches from the organisation Right to Life for special needs and another for Sudanese refugees. "On the final day, we brought 80 students to have the young coaches teach them what they learnt," El-Kurdi said. "There is an evaluation from coaches of the English League. In the next course, the participants will be from smaller clubs in governorates in Egypt." This is a new initiative between the English League and the British Council, to work with young people to help enhance their skills in football, coaching and the English language. The aims of the project are providing an opportunity for young coaches or youth leaders to develop their own skills, through training provided by world class professional coaches, so as to be able to better pass on those skills to others. It gives them an appetite for further training in these skills as part of their own personal development. They also took an intensive course in English to show them their potential for language learning and how through knowledge of the language, opportunities can open up for them. It helps to form a network of young coaches through training. It provide high visibility through working with the leading football association in the world and by bringing celebrity players and coaches to endorse the programme. The Premier League is the world's most watched sporting league and the most lucrative football league. The FA Premier League was formed in 1992 and is currently contested by 20 clubs. The Premier League is committed to enabling all young people, regardless of sex, race, religion or disability to have access to a new generation of football facilities, and to using the popularity of football to improve educational and training standards for young people. "Sports are very important for special needs," Manal Kamal, a coach for special needs in Right to Life for 13 years. "When they travel abroad, special needs students achieve victory." Amr Diyaa, a 25-year-old student with special needs, and who has won several awards in swimming, running, football and basketball. said, "I love sports very much." Omar Demerdash 15, said he loved football." Robbie Earle, Warren Barton, Chris Cummins and Mart Newson were the professional coaches from England. Earle is a former professional footballer who played 600 games in senior club football, scoring 150 goals. He was the scorer of Jamaica's first ever World Cup goal, against Croatia, in their debut World Cup campaign in 1998. After successfully completing the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) coaching syllabus, culminating in the award of the prestigious FA 'A' License, he then took up a coaching role at Wimbledon whilst also becoming an ambassador for the club. "Sports journalism also became a great interest for me," where Earle began working for radio stations such as BBC Radio, Five Live and Capital Radio London, before switching to working as a pundit and commentator on television in 2001. Working closely with the English FA and the Premier League on a number of football related topics, he also continue to host and present a number of conferences on behalf of the FA nationwide. As well as holding an honorary Doctorate from Staffordshire University, "one of my greatest achievements was being awarded an MBE in 1999 by Her Majesty the Queen, for services to football, and I am also an honorary patron for "Show racism the Red Card!" Earle was a player in premier league for 10 years. For six years now he has been a coach. "A good coach is able to teach, listen, understand, see and work with children. You measure a good coach in the way he deals with children. That comes with experience and time. It might take five years after practice and practice. This course is just a start; there should be more work to do. There should be 10 courses like this." "The aim of the course is to bring Egyptians together to teach other people," Cummins stated. "The real key for a good coach is to be really organised make them have fun and be patient. Sometimes, though, the children's concentration isn't very good." Said Cummins, "As long they have fun and smiling they will be learning," he said of children with special needs." Cummins worked at Watford football club for 13 years, producing 43 professional players who have gone on to play at least 25 games at the professional level. He started coaching young and only played semi pro football. He has worked with managers Graham Taylor, Luca Vialli, Aidy Booth and Ray Lewington. He also holds the UEFA "A" coaching license. "All our coaches come from professional football clubs in England. My job is trying to communicate with them and to express themselves," Cummins said. Ahmed Hassan a coach with the Egyptian National Council for Sports said, "We learnt from them how to deal with children, how to respect time, arrange a playing field and accept our mistakes. The only flaw in this course is that it is too short." "I gained a lot of useful knowledge from this course especially when professional coaches teach you," Shimaa Hussein, a student in the faculty of sports, said. "I learnt how to teach ethics and good manners through football games." Hussein said she will try to form a girl's football team in her governorate Sharqiya. Barton, who played for Newcastle and England, has been a professional for 18 years. "I and Robbie had a plan two years ago to develop coaching all over the world. Coaches can come learn new ideas and go back to their community and start work with the children." Egyptian players have been very enthusiastic and willing to learn and have very good ideas. The standard in Egypt is very high." Martin Neuson has been coaching for 10 years. He prefers to be a player "but when you get old we become coaches. "I think in general practicing a game is healthy. I've seen some Egyptian matches. I like Egyptian players like Mido."
