Doha 21st October 2013: The hugely successful Premier Skills initiative, run by the Premier League and the British Council, has this week launched a showcase event in Qatar. Premier Skills will take place from 20 to 23 October 2013; with intensive training for 32 grassroots football coaches selected from across Qatar. The project will be led by Premier Skills head coaches Paul Hughes, Director of Innovative Sports Consultancy and Laura Milburn, a Sport Manager at Wolverhampton Wanderers FC. They will be supported by Football Association Coach Sally Needham. All of the coaches involved in Premier Skills are UEFA qualified coaches.
The course in Qatar is being jointly organised as part of Qatar UK 2013 Year of Culture by the British Council Qatar and the Premier League, with the support of The Football Association (FA), Qatar Football Association (QFA) and the Qatar Women’s Sport Committee (QWSC). Qatar UK 2013 brings two of the world’s most enthusiastic sporting nations together to further social inclusion and encourage healthier lifestyles.
Both male and female football coaches will be taking part in Premier Skills. The female coaches come from the Qatar Women’s Sport Committee network and will be completing the training at Aspire. The male coaches have been nominated by the Qatar Football Association, and their training will take place at the Qatar Football Association training ground. The training provided by Premier Skills takes a holistic approach to community coach development, with participants attending pitch and workshop classes focusing on coaching behaviours, inclusive session planning techniques and personal development life skills. .
Premier Skills combines the reach of the British Council with the global appeal of the Premier League to use football to develop a brighter future for young people around the world. Drawing upon the Premier League’s domestic expertise, it uses football to tackle a variety of social issues in the community, such as health, disability, gender, inclusion and education.
In addition to coaching, a range of materials, including a dedicated website, have been created for teachers and learners of English that utilise football-based content and the British Council’s world-class expertise in English.
Premier Skills has already delivered tremendous impact in 22 countries across Asia, Africa and the Americas. Since 2007 Premier Skills has created training opportunities benefiting 2,300 grassroots coaches and referees who in turn have reached more than 400,000 young people.
Under the programme 6,000 teachers have received face to face training in the use of the Premier Skills English materials, applying these in the classroom to reach thousands of pupils. In addition there have been 3.5 million views of the English materials online.
Premier League Chief Executive Richard Scudamore said:
“At home the Premier League and our Clubs have a long-held commitment and reputation for delivering high quality community and education programmes. Given our popularity and success internationally we felt it only right to take this approach to a wider community.
“Premier Skills has already taken place in 22 countries, developing over 1,100 new coaches all over the world under the current phase alone. These coaches have already delivered work that has benefited a further 400,000 young people. I am thrilled to see Premier Skills part of the Qatar UK 2013 Year in Culture”.
British Council Qatar Director Martin Hope said:
“Football is one of the UK’s greatest cultural assets, and the Qatar UK 2013 Year of Culture offers a fantastic opportunity to showcase the best of British coaching talent and at the same time encourage development of grassroots coaching and community football in Qatar. We are very excited to welcome Premier Skills to Qatar and we hope this programme will create long-lasting partnership between both the individuals taking part, and the institutions supporting the programme.”
FA Head of International Relations Jane Bateman said:
“The FA is looking forward to co-delivering Premier Skills for the first time, in the first Premier Skills event to be held in Qatar. We are particularly pleased to be supporting the women’s football element of the programme. Together with the Premier League, The FA has a long history of playing a role in developing football around the world and promoting football as a power for good. We welcome this opportunity to bring the spirit of this work to Qatar during this special Qatar UK 2013 Year in Culture.”
Ahmed Omar Shaker, Head of Training and Development at the Qatar Football Association (QFA), said:
“I would like to express my joy being with you today at this great celebration, which comes in conjunction with the Qatar UK 2013 Year of Culture. I would also like to express my gratitude towards the British Council for extending the invitation to the Qatar Football Association to participate in such an activity. We are very excited to become part of this training program that aims at developing football skills. We would like to take this opportunity to express our appreciation of English football and the English Premier League, for what it provides to the game on a global level. We wish the best to everyone working on the Premier Skills program.”
Celebrating the long-standing relationship between the two countries, Qatar UK 2013 Year of Culture aims to forge new and support existing partnerships in the arts, education, sport and science, while promoting an awareness and appreciation of each country’s culture, achievements and heritage. The Year is coordinated by Qatar Museums Authority (QMA) and the British Council with the support of their respective Ministries of Culture and Foreign Affairs and Katara Cultural Village along with Platinum Sponsors Qatargas, Qatar Shell and Vodafone Qatar.
Source: Qatar UK 2013
The post Premier League and British Council showcase innovative coaching project as part of Qatar UK year of culture appeared first on Qatar Chronicle | Qatar happenings | Qatar News | Qatar Classifieds | Qatar investments | Qatar business.