Empower East African Refugee Youth in Uganda

For the first part of 2016, there has been much focus on the staff’s professional development.  Head Instructor Jeremiah Lukeka breaks down two of the coaches’ trainings in which our staff participated:

The British Council Community Coach Training:

This training was focused on developing personal skills in communication, presentation, team building and leadership. It provided participants with the opportunity to learn about fitness and nutrition, player development, coaching practices, and action planning. It also helped to contribute to building a framework for football coaching.

The Premier League coaches aimed to provide coaches with excellent role models, not only on the pitch but during the workshop sessions which they led. The learning style was interactive, involving coaches throughout the entire training.

The training took place over five days for 10 hours per day. The hours were subdivided into morning sessions in class and afternoon sessions at the pitch.

The training was led by three great local coaches, including one from the Uganda Cranes National Team. Five of our coaches, including Olivier Matanda, Junior Kasereka, Jeremiah Lukeka, Jules Mayele, and Nsamba Mustapha had the privilege to attend this training and meet different influential people like the High Commissioner of the United Kingdom in Uganda, The Assistant Federation of Uganda Football Associations (FUFA) President and other great coaches from Super League Teams.

The Coaches Across Continent Coach Training:

This training was focused on how to use football for social impact, adapting normal football drills with a social impact message, and creating our own games.

This training also took place over five days for 3 hours per day. The training was led by 4 Coaches Across Continents coaches from the U.S. and one from Kenya. This training involved 10 of our coaches.

In both trainings, our coaches were thrilled to learn about:

• Coaching Skills and Behavior
• Coaching Process
• Coaching Styles and Safety
• Football Knowledge and Practical Sessions.
• Effective Coaching
• The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child
• Community Development through Football
• The Game Rules
• Social Impact Games
• Adapting Normal Football drills with Social Impact Messages
• Creating own games.

Through these trainings, we have improved our coaching styles a lot, and we have shared the experiences with other staff. We are now excited to be implementing these new skills in our normal programs.