Organised every year by Dubai Sports Council for benefit of coaches working for the age-group teams at Dubai club, the programme will continue until April 3.

Gulf Today, Staff Reporter

Dubai Sports Council’s (DSC) seventh Annual Development Programme for Dubai Club Coaches kicked off on Saturday with former Holland and Australia national Under-17 and Under-20 team coach Jan Versleijen, who is the Sports Director of Al Nasr Football Company, delivering a lecture, virtually, for coaches of the Under-13 to Under-18 teams at Dubai clubs.

Versleijen, who has also coached Al Jazira and Al Shaab in the UAE as well as Saudi Arabia clubs Ettifaq and Al Wehda, delivered his lecture under the theme, “Football Club Model – Playing styles and principles”.

Organised every year by Dubai Sports Council for the benefit of coaches working for the age-group teams at Dubai club, the programme will continue until April 3, with sessions taking place every Saturday – all virtually through video conferencing.

There are three lectures scheduled for coming Saturday, with Algerian Hichem Boumbar, who is the Technical Director of Football Academy at Hatta Club, discussing “Playing Philosophy – Planning and Training Programs” for the sake of coaches working with the Under-13 to Under-18 teams.

Kamel Djaber, who has worked at several Dubai clubs as goalkeeping supervisor, will deliver a lecture for U9-U12 and U13-U15 goalkeeping coaches on “Goalkeepers in the initial and formative stages”. The third session of March 6 will take place for coaches working in the U12-U16 segment with Ziane Bouziane Yasri, the Technical Supervisor of the School Department at Al Shabab Al Ahli Football Academy, delivering a lecture on “Skilled work in Football Schools”.

Three sessions are also scheduled for March 13, when Tahir Helja, the Technical Director of Al Wasl Football Academy, speak about the “Methodology of training talents through their playing positions and realism” in a session for U13-U18 segment of coaches, and Yasri will discuss “Tactical actions in football schools” for the sake of U6-U12 coaches. Djaber, meanwhile, will deliver a lecture for U16-U19 goalkeeping coaches on “The goalkeeper in formative years”.

There are two sessions scheduled for March 20, where Pep Alomar, the Technical Director of Al Shabab Al Ahli Football Academy, will talk about the “Importance of passing and positional play” for U13-U18 coaches, and Salem Khamis, the goalkeeping technical supervisor at Al Nasr Football Academy, will talk about different methods of “Mental Training” for goalkeeping coaches.

On March 27, Rashed Amer, Sports Director of Hatta Football Company and member of the Youth Development Committee at the AFC, will deliver a lecture on “Mini Games” for U13-U18 segment coaches, while Dr Mourad Ghrairi, Chief Medical Officer at FIFA Sports Medical centre of Excellence Dubai, will deliver a lecture on “Training players in the shadow of the COVID-19 Pandemic” on April 3 for U13-U18 coaches.