15 November 2018 – SAFA’s grassroots coaching D license course kicked off on Tuesday at Buffalo City in the Eastern Cape where a total of 22 aspiring professional coaches showed up in pursuit of working towards their first coaching badges.

SAFA’s Provincial Technical Officer Desmond Lewis, who is also serving as a coaching instructor in this course, said he was pleased that there were people in his region who are keen on improving their knowledge about the sport.

Lewis added that having qualified coaches at ground level, would see the country producing more quality players from an early age in the long run.

The course, which started this Tuesday (13 November), will run up until 17 November 2018.

“This course is very crucial because it teaches you, as an aspiring professional coach, how to develop young players from as early as the age of six,” Lewis said. “Young players cannot be treated or trained as you were to with adults. You would be straining them if you were to do that and that is why we have these courses.

Lewis added: “Our intention is to have as many qualified coaches working with our young ones from different LFAs throughout the country. That will see use producing far much better players who would be good enough to compete on any level.”

The course will finish off with a Live Your Goals programme, where coaches who attended the course, will have practical sessions coaching kids of the surrounding area in a festival.

This is for the instructors to assess on whether their coaches can apply what they had learned in class.