Football coaches intent on being considered for the country’s first two Advanced Level 2 Coaching Courses in February will have until Wednesday January 20 to register with the Jamaica Money Market Brokers (JMMB) Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) University of Technology Coaching School.

Under the direction of FIFA instructors, two courses, the first of which will run from February 8-15 and the second February 18-25, will be held this year. The first course will be held at the University of Technology with the second to be hosted in Montego Bay. Coaches, mainly in schoolboy football and Premier League, in possession of an Advanced Level 1 Certificate, its equivalent or higher can secure application forms at the offices of the Federation, complete and return form no later than the deadline of January 20, 2010. The cost of the course is set at $35,000.00 per person and covers class materials, lunch and a set of course gear. Successful applicants are expected to meet a deadline of Tuesday January 26 for payment of fees.

Topics to be covered in the courses are: Planning a Micro Cycle; Dead Ball Tactics; Player Characteristics: Talent Identification; Player Management; Match Analysis and Football Fitness and Team Group Dynamics.

These Advanced Level 2 courses are a continuation of the Federation’s declared objective of ushering in a new era in the development of the country’s football. In 1998 Jamaica achieved its greatest success so far with qualification for the 1998 World Cup in France and during that campaign the country achieved it highest FIFA world ranking of 37. To replicate and surpass those feats, the Federation in association with UTech launched its coaching school in 2009 and stated that successful participation in the courses is a mandatory requirement for allowance to coach at any level in Jamaica. All persons coaching in Jamaica will have to be registered with the JFF and as of September 9, 2009 no coach will be able to perform in an approved JFF competition without certification approved by the body.

A decision was also taken to, on a phased basis, to institute a requirement of an Advanced Level 1 certification to coach at the Primary School level, Advanced Level 2 for Secondary institutions and Advanced Level 3 for the National Premier League and the national team.