Gov’t pumps $10 million into football’s D Licence coaching programme

She made the announcement during a ceremony recently held at the Jamaica Football Federation headquarters in Kingston.

Under the initiative some 500 football coaches at the primary school level will have the opportunity to sit the FIFA D Licence course, a move that will ultimately become a prerequisite for persons coaching at the under-13 level.

“We had some years ago a successful little league competition and I am waiting on the Institute of Sports (INSPORTS) to reactivate that programme in short order, so we could start with the very young,” said Grange, as quoted by state media the JIS.

The D Licence coaching programme is an introductory grassroots initiative that covers the basic fundamentals of football. Several topics covered under this course are the role of coaches/educators, the principles of coaching, health and safety, small sided games, technical and tactical training and evaluations.

In 2018 the government, in partnership with the state-owned Institute of Sports and the JFF, paid the tuition fee of 16 of the best coaches at the primary school level.

The move was aimed at strengthening the quality of grassroots coaches and players who will emerge into the national programme.

“This training is critical to our football and certainly the ministry endorses it,” Grange added.

Participants will be exposed to the theoretical and practical aspects of the game during a series of sessions over a four-day period at the University of the West Indies (UWI)/Jamaica Football Federation Captain Horace Burrell Centre of Excellence on the Mona Campus, St. Andrew.