The newly elected Executive Committee of The Gambia Football Coaches Association (GFCA) today paid a courtesy call on the President of The Gambia Football Federation (GFF) at Football House in Kanifing.
The group is headed by its new President, Mr. Matar Alieu M’Boge and also includes first Vice President, Kebba ‘Jesper’ Touray and Alhaji Amat Cham the Secretary General amongst a host of other familiar faces.
Mr. M’Boge noted that there is a lot of coaching talents in The Gambia who needs to be given the opportunity to fulfil their potentials. He said his executive is aware of what the GFF has done for coaches in terms of C and D license courses. M’Boge also said it is important that the coaches take advantage pf the Continues Professional Development (CPD) program to improve the capacity of the technicians.
The CDP program is a learning process required for coaches and mentors to ensure that their coaching standards and competencies are maintained and enhanced over time.
The President of the GFF, Mr. Lamin Kaba Bajo, congratulated the new executive for their election into office and noted that if one follows the developments of the domestic league, especially the last season, you’ll realise that despite the challenges posed it became one of the most competitive and interesting competition, and this cannot be achieved without quality coaching. He said top of his leadership’s agenda is capacity building, coaching in particular.
He, however, challenged the new leadership to help in the training of female coaches in order to bridge the existing gap with their male counterparts. He enjoined them to design tailor made programs for them to have more female coaches for the women’s league.
The first Vice President of the GFF, Mr. Bakary K. Jammeh, said the issue of having coaches included in f the highest decision-making body of the Federation (the General Assembly) is a new phenomenon, starting from the migration from GFA to GFF. He said the rationale behind that the move was not vote canvasing, but part of efforts to involve them from the basics.
“If coaches take a front seat in strategic planning, then they become more professional, thus they’re within the GFF family to take their rightful place because football cannot be developed without coaching,” Mr. Jammeh said.
Kebba ‘Jesper’ Touray thanked the GFF for the continuous support to the GFCA, noting that today the Technical Department has produced over 90 C License certificate holders over the last four years alone. He thanked the GFF President for the confidence reposed in them and reassured him of their continuous collaboration.
“Finally let me congratulate you for the senior national team’s qualification to the African Cup of Nations for the first time, with the majority of players coming through the local league and local coaches,” he said.
The ceremony was chaired by the General Secretary of the GFF, Mr. Lamin M. Jassey, who expressed his confidence in the team’s ability to take the Association to a desired level. He assured them of Football House’s readiness to work with them just like with the previous executive.
