Mikia Kalati
THE Lesotho Football Association (LeFA), in collaboration with the Federation of International Football Associations (FIFA), is holding a week-long coaching course for women’s football coaches.
The course which started on Sunday at Bambatha Tsita Spiorts Arena is being attended by 27 participants who are mostly club coaches in the Women Super League.
LeFA technical director, Leslie Notši, told this publication that the course intends to improve women football coaches’ capacity and the standard of their game in the country. He said the course is being instructed by Jaquelin Chipanga from Namibia.
He stated that it was the responsibility of his office to ensure that coaches are trained regularly to equip them with the latest trends in the game.
“It’s the responsibility of this office to see to it that our coaches get regular training on the changes that are taking place in the game to help improve the standards of the game in the country,” Notši said.
“All the improvements in football only come with proper training to enhance your skills and I believe that the training came at the right time after our women’s team performed dismally at the recent COSAFA Cup.
“It’s a chance for us to pick up the pieces and learn from the mistakes so that we can become a better team.”
The well-travelled coach, who has coached all national teams as well as some of the top clubs in the country, said the course will go a long way in improving the standards of women football.
He stated that the FIFA instructor conducting the course is happy after seeing the local female teams in action and is happy with the progress that has been made by the Super League.
“The instructor watched some of the games on Saturday and was happy to see the progress made in women football. She was very happy with what she saw and the development that is taking place in women football in the country.”
Notši, who recently returned from London, where he attended a FIFA presentation on the 2018 World Cup and the awards, said he learnt a lot during the trip to England.
“It was a very successful trip for the technical department as we got a presentation from the FIFA Technical Study Group (TSD) led by former World Cup winner Carlos Alberto Parreira and Dutch and Nigerian legends, Marco Van Basten and Emmanuel Amunike respectively.
“The presentation was basically on the breakdown of the world cup as far as the latest trends in the game are concerned. It looked at the success of the 2018 World Cup with the France winning team, the best players at the tournament, the failures of African teams at the tournament, Video Assistant Referees (VAR), goalkeeping and of course it ended with the awards where Luka Modric of Croatia was crowned the FIFA World Player of the Year,” Notši said.
