Hallgrimsson agitates for increase in coaching education

NATIONAL SENIOR men’s head coach Heimir Hallgrimsson is of the opinion that the two leading contributors to player development are proper coaching education and good facilities.

Hallgrimsson went on a two-month tour of the country recently where he assessed the country’s football facilities and hosted coaching clinics.

His insights afterwards were captured in an interview with JFF Media, with the head coach saying that improvement in both areas would help hasten the churning out of better players within the country.

“For players’ development, the two most important ingredients are coaching education and the facilities to coach football. Only with changing these two factors will the development of players be totally different as it will be faster to produce better players,” said Hallgrimsson.

Hallgrimsson pointed out, as an example, the gap between men’s and women’s football in the country, saying that the latter lagged behind because they have less access to both coaching education and proper facilities.

“There are a lot of other factors to produce good players, but if these two are lacking, then there will always be a hurdle that will be difficult to jump over. Therefore, the sooner we change those things, the quicker we develop. It has been more challenging for the girls because they have less access to these facilities compared to the boys, so we also need to secure the equality in that sense,” he said.

According to Hallgrimsson, coaches are enthusiastic about improving their craft, but a lack of knowledge could stagnate their growth.

“Coaches are enthusiastic about doing better, being better, and the fact of the matter is because of the lack of coaching education in the past in Jamaica, we are coaching the same way we were coached when we were players, and if we aren’t improving our education, then we have a standstill.” Hallgrimsson is also hoping that the increase in coaching education opportunities like his two-month project will also help to bolster support for the Jamaica Football Federation.

“I hope this will be something that the coaches and administrators will appreciate, and I hope it will give more positivity towards the Jamaica Football Federation and towards both the national men’s and women’s programmes.”

orane.buchanan@gleanerjm.com