Coaching ● Feb 01, 2023
FAS/AFC Goalkeeping ‘B’ Diploma Coaching Course (Part 3) concluded
Course participants at the FAS/AFC Goalkeeping ‘B’ Diploma Coaching Course, 21-24 January 2023
SINGAPORE, 27 JANUARY 2023 – The Football Association of Singapore (FAS) recently concluded Part 3 of the FAS/Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Goalkeeping ‘B’ Diploma Coaching Course.
Held between 21 to 24 January, this part of the course was conducted at Geylang Training Centre under the mentorship of Lead Coach Developer, Mr Rameshpal Singh and involved four participants. It follows on from Part 1 from last September and Part 2, which saw the course participants clock at least 60 hours of coaching experience in an elite youth environment (i.e. Elite Academy, Centre of Excellence (COE), Singapore Football League (SFL) or Singapore Premier League (SPL)).
Mr Sukhbir Singh of the FAS Referees’ Department conducting a presentation, 21-24 January 2023
During this part of the course, the participants engaged in practical sessions that centred on topics like “Dealing with Back Pass” and “Dealing with Crosses in a Phase of Play”. For theory sessions, topics such as “Laws of The Game Relevant to Goalkeeping” – featuring a presentation by Mr Sukhbir Singh from the FAS Referees’ Department – as well as “Understanding Periodisation”, “Creating age-appropriate Goalkeeping Development Plans”, “Providing social & psychological support to the Goalkeeper”, “Learning how the performance of the individual Goalkeepers in training & matches contribute to the designing of the training plans to achieve Goalkeeper” and “Preparing the Goalkeepers transition from training to playing in matches” were discussed.
In addition, players from the COE Under-15 and Under-17 teams of SPL side Geylang International FC assisted in simulating realistic situations during the practical sessions.
Course participant Mr Kenny Loh conducting a practical session, 21-24 January 2023
Course participant Mr Kenny Loh, a goalkeeper coach at the SFA-UTR, told FAS: “Participating in this course was a positive learning experience for me as I gained a lot of insights from the instructor and my fellow participants. It was incredibly helpful that the course was structured to be conducted in two parts as it allows us to apply what we learnt from the course during the break. Due to our diverse coaching background and experiences, the participants have different coaching philosophy and beliefs. However, we were able to leverage on them to contribute positively to each other’s learning. The use of videography was effective in enabling us to be reflective and critical in identifying areas of improvement.
“The participants and course instructors were very professional and critical in providing constructive feedbacks for improvements. This is important for us as coaches as the game is always changing – we need to be receptive to feedback in order for us to learn and grow as a coach. Coaches must be adaptive and flexible to understand that the old ways might not be the best now. Through coaching courses, we can constantly upgrade our knowledge for the ever-changing game of football!”
Course participant Mr Hyrulnizam Juma’at briefing players, 21-24 January 2023
Former national goalkeeper Shahril Jantan added: “I knew that being a Goalkeeper Coach is never the same as being a Goalkeeper. As the role of the Goalkeeper has evolved over the last 10 years, so too has the role of a Goalkeeper Coach. The demands have changed so much that it has had a direct impact on how we, as Goalkeeper Coaches, design our sessions, how we think, how we analyse situations and how we can contribute towards the Coaching of the team as well. This course has forced me to be self-critical in the way I run sessions and be open to exploring new methods and strategies when working with Goalkeepers in a particular age group. I enjoyed sharing from both Coach Developer and fellow course participants, which challenges the way we think and everyone’s openness to participate in group discussions and sharing of personal experiences.”
Mr Zainudeen Hassan, Head, FAS Coach Education & Development (CED), said: “We would like to thank the staff and players from Geylang International’s COE teams for sacrificing their time during the holidays to assist us with creating realism in the practical training sessions. We are heartened to see the enthusiasm shown by the course participants to continuously upgrade themselves as coaches.”
The course participants will now proceed to complete their assessment component with the Lead Coach Developer within the next six months.
