Football coaches in Barbados need to get themselves better qualified, says referees manager at the Barbados Football Association (BFA), Mark Forde.
“What we need to do in Barbados is to educate our present coaches we have on the island to get them better qualified; to get them to go overseas and do more coaching courses. Once they go and they get training overseas and come back to Barbados then they would be able to apply and be available to carry out the role of technical director for football in Barbados,” Forde said.
The manager’s statement came on the heels of the appointment of Brazilian-born coach Marcos Falopa as the new technical director of football on the island just over a month ago. Last August when Falopa was introduced to the Barbadian public, one of the areas which he said he would be focusing on was training the coaches during a series of seminars which allowed coaches to become more certified.
Falopa was contracted for a six month period by the BFA to do the job and according to Forde having a man with Falopa’s knowledge and experience as technical director should really help local coaches and referees.
“In my role as referees’ manager, I would be asking him to come in and speak to the referees on tactical skills, different game plans, what the referees should look for when they see certain things. It is a means to help the referees better read the game, better control the game and having an understanding on the technical aspect of the game. So he is going to be very crucial from that standpoint,” Forde said.