Developing football skills of coaches

By Salman Siddiqui/Staff ReporterThe hugely successful Premier Skills initiative for football coaches, run by the Premier League and the British Council, has launched a showcase event in Qatar. Addressing a press conference yesterday, officials said that the Premier Skills was taking place from October 20-23 with intensive training for 32 grassroots football coaches selected from across Qatar. Ahmed Omar Shaker, head of Training and Development at the Qatar Football Association (QFA), said:  “We are very excited to become part of this training programme that aims at developing football skills. We would like to take this opportunity to express our appreciation of English football and the English Premier League, for what it provides to the game on a global level.”The project will be led by Premier Skills head coaches Paul Hughes, Director of Innovative Sports Consultancy and Laura Milburn, a Sport Manager at Wolverhampton Wanderers FC. They will be supported by Football Association Coach Sally Needham. All of the coaches involved are Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) qualified coaches.Hughes said that the programme was all about using the power of football to appeal to both adults and young people.Milburn said that she was very excited to train coaches in Qatar and was impressed with the dedication of female coaches in the country. Both praised Qatar for maintaining excellent sport facilities.The course in Qatar is part of Qatar UK 2013 Year of Culture. It is jointly organised by the British Council Qatar and the Premier League, with the support of The Football Association (FA), Qatar Football Association (QFA) and the Qatar Women’s Sport Committee (QWSC). British Council Qatar Director Martin Hope said: “Football is one of the UK’s greatest cultural assets, and the Qatar UK 2013 Year of Culture offers a fantastic opportunity to showcase the best of British coaching talent and at the same time encourage development of grassroots coaching and community football in Qatar.”Both male and female football coaches will be taking part in the programme. The female coaches come from the Qatar Women’s Sport Committee network and will be completing the training at Aspire.  The male coaches have been nominated by the Qatar Football Association, and their training will take place at the Qatar Football Association training ground. Hope revealed that most of the coaches being trained in Qatar were selected through the Supreme Education Council that provided a list of Physical Education teachers. Premier League Chief Executive Richard Scudamore said: “Premier Skills has already taken place in 22 countries, developing over 1,100 new coaches all over the world under the current phase alone. These coaches have already delivered work that has benefited a further 400,000 young people. I am thrilled to see Premier Skills part of the Qatar UK 2013 Year in Culture”.FA Head of International Relations Jane Bateman said: “The FA is looking forward to co-delivering Premier Skills for the first time, in the first Premier Skills event to be held in Qatar. We are particularly pleased to be supporting the women’s football element of the programme.” The closing ceremony of the Premier Skills programme will take place on Wednesday at 4.30pm at Al Sadd Sports Club.Premier Skills combines the reach of the British Council with the global appeal of the Premier League to use football to develop a brighter future for young people around the world. Drawing upon the Premier League’s domestic expertise, it uses football to tackle a variety of social issues in the community, such as health, disability, gender, inclusion and education.