The English Premier League came to town to develop coaching skills. Inas Mazhar attended the training sessions in Alexandria The Premier League took its international coaching project Premier Skills to Egypt. The venture, which concluded earlier this week, ran in conjunction with the British Council and Egypt's National Sports Council(NSC). The first phase took place in Cairo in March, then changed the venue to Alexandria last week. The project is part a series of one-week coaching activities taking place around the globe. Premier Skills works with young people to help enhance their skills in football, coaching and the English language. During their one-week stay, former Newcastle United defender Warren Barton, former Wimbledon midfielder Robbie Earle, goalkeeper Tony Roberts and former player Scott Fitzgerald ran coaching sessions for 40 youth leaders between the ages of 18 and 35. The training sessions were held at Semouha Club. The aim of the project is to help youth leaders develop their own coaching skills so they can continue to run football projects all year round. The Premier League is also providing copies of their Skill Factor training CD to aid future development. In addition to the coaching sessions the British Council provided intensive English language courses which demonstrated the benefits of education and the British Council's language learning website go 4english.com "At home the Premier League and our clubs have a long-held commitment and reputation for investing in community and education programmes," Premier League Chief Executive Richard Scudamore said. "Given our popularity and success internationally we felt it only right to take this approach to a wider community. "After the success of the first Premier Skills project in Cairo, I am sure this one in Alexandria will be equally valuable for those taking part. I am thrilled that we have top coaches like Robbie Earle and Warren Barton on board again and with the expertise that the British Council brings to the project, there is no doubt Premier Skills is set to make a huge impact wherever it is run," Scudamore added shortly before the courses kicked off. British Council Chair Lord Kinnock said at the launching of the project, "This is a truly exciting, creative initiative. Football transcends race and language among people everywhere. By putting the British Council's experience and global network together with the Premier League's great know-how, we can reach countless young people and help to enhance their skills on the pitch, their self-development, and their understanding of other cultures." British Council Director Paul Smith said the Premier Skills project was a terrific opportunity to improve the young people's soccer, language and leadership skills. "We are looking for ways of enhancing, improving and creating new dialogue and understanding between the different global cultures. We chose Egypt to start with this pilot project because we were very excited and impressed by the capacity of sports in the country. "It is a terrific opportunity to work with the UK's finest football organisation, the Premier League, which is not only the great front edge of English football but also a great international organisation, where more than 320 international players play including a number of Egypt's great players. It is a fantastic opportunity to partner them in bringing these people to Alexandria, to improve not only their football skills but also their language, communication and leadership skills, what we call their life skills, making them realise that everybody can have inspiration and engage in dialogue and experience and this can only be done through football," Smith added. "The success of Ahli football team in the African Champions League and the national team during the African Nations Cup which Egypt hosted and won last year prompted us to launch the project in Egypt. We were really amazed by the atmosphere here and with the Mexican wave in the stands. The stadiums were always a full house," Smith said. While the Premier League and the British Council provided the football coaches and English language teachers, the role of the NSC was to select the participants. Executive Director Medhat El-Beltagui said the 40 participants were hand-picked from all over the country. "The selection came with the help of the 'Dreams & Teams' group, which is also another project in conjunction with the British Council. We selected the talents in football, and leadership from the talents project in the NSC. The age is between 18 and 34 because the aim is to increase their skills so they can pass on their knowledge to children," El-Beltagui said. El-Beltagui said the role of the Egyptian sports body is to communicate and follow up with the British Council and the Premier League Skills project "and make sure that by the end of the three years, the Egyptians will have truly gained from taking part in it and I'm sure it will be a resounding success." Participants received a six-hour coaching session daily, one in the morning and another in the evening. They were divided into four groups of 10 each and exchanged coaches. Each coach was accompanied by an interpreter for translation. Roberts was surprised by how much the participants were familiar with the Premiership. "The participants were so knowledgeable, I was surprised. They knew everything about the Premier League, the names of the teams, players and coaches and they asked many questions to which I had no answers to some." Roberts was also impressed with the participants' skills. "They were good and picked up the instructions easily." In addition to the coaching sessions the British Council provided intensive English language courses. Project Officer Nadia Montasser said the course ran throughout the week together with the football sessions. "Before the beginning of the course, we ran a placement test for all participants so we knew in which level each should be placed. We had four levels starting from the beginners to upper intermediate. The participants were also given lectures about the Premier league, the impact on the community and social inclusion. Premier League official Catherine Long was impressed by the feedback she received from the participants. "The lectures we gave them were about the Premier League. We put in context the Premier League competition and how it works in the UK, the impact it has on the community, teaching them what is beyond coaching, and passing them on to others as well, increasing their inspiration, teaching them something else that can change their lives other than defending or catching the ball. "The feedback was very interesting. They asked many questions about the Premier League and why it was brought to Egypt. They also asked about the development of young players in England." By the end of the week the participants applied what they had learned by coaching 80 school children in a one-day football tournament. "They took care of everything. The English coaches were just there as observers," said Montasser.
