SINGAPORE, 19 AUGUST 2020 – The first-ever Football Association of Singapore (FAS) – People’s Association (PA) Grassroots Football Webinar was successfully held earlier this year on 25 July 2020.

 

The session is the beginning of this new series of webinars, which was borne out of adaptation to the current COVID-19 pandemic. While FAS has conducted Grassroots Coaching Courses for the coaches and volunteers from the PA Children League programme, it was not viable to do so in the current climate as the courses involved physical interaction during practical sessions.

 

However, the FAS Coach Education & Development (CED) department and PA’s Manager (Youth & Sports), Mr Ryan Teo, came up with a solution after discussions to continue engaging the PA coaches through this online initiative.

 

Jointly-organised by FAS and PA, the two-and-a-half-hour session was conducted by FAS-appointed Coach Developers, Mr Loh Ngiap Tai and Mr Mohamed Ashrudin – whom both attended the FIFA Grassroots Coach Developer Course in 2019 – for 18 participants from the PA.

 

Designed for an interactive group discussion and information sharing between the FAS Coach Developers and PA Grassroots coaches, the webinar touched on the S.M.I.L.E.S (Safety, Maximum Participation, Inclusiveness, Learning, Enjoyment, Success) and G.A.G (Game, Analytical, Game) methodologies for children aged between five to twelve years.

 

 

Upon completion of the webinar, participants will be able to understand better the characteristics and learning needs of children in this age group, as well as utilise the S.M.I.L.E.S. framework effectively and design coaching sessions using the G.A.G. method.

 

Noting the feedback from the PA’s coaches, Mr Teo said: “Having the Grassroots Coaching course held via an online platform was a great idea. The Grassroots Coaching Webinar series provided the grassroots coaches with the opportunity to refresh and learn new knowledge from the coach developers online at the comfort of their own home. The course was well-designed, where interactive discussion sessions were also held during the course, which gave the coaches a chance to share their own views and knowledge. We look forward to more of these courses in the future.”

 

FAS, Head (CED), Mr Zainudeen Hassan, commented: “Over the years, we have conducted many Grassroots Coaching Courses for the public and external organisations like ActiveSG, the PA and Republic Polytechnic. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we were not able to organise standard Refresher Courses. Hence, we have linked up with PA to run this series in order to reconnect with their coaches and share with them some best practices and new coaching methodologies.”

 

The next session of this series has been planned to take place in September 2020 and the FAS is looking forward to engaging with more grassroots coaches.  

 

*Note: The FAS-PA Grassroots Football Webinar series is purely educational and does not involve any issuance of certificates for participation.