COACHES GET TIPS:Arsenal football club trains local tacticians

Coach Mathare United FC Francis Kimanzi (left) is challenged by Paul Ogai Coach of Palos FC during Arsenal Coaches Training Camp at Kenya School of Monetary Studies in Nairobi on Wednesday, Dec 7, 2016. [PHOTO: JONAH ONYANGO/STANDARD]

It was time for practicals yesterday as the five-day training course for more than 50 coaches entered its fourth day at the Kenya School of Monetary Studies.

The course is being conducted by the Arsenal football club coaching staff.

Led by James Colinese, the three coaches from the English Premier League side who are in Kenya courtesy of SportPesa have been helping polish talent identification skills among Kenyan coaches as the country eyes participation in the 2022 World Cup.

“From Day 3, we have been focusing on helping the coaches on the delivery of skills they picked out during the theory sessions. It’s important to be working closely with the local premier league coaches and for us to gain further understanding of their current levels and individual outlooks on the game,” said Colinese.

Club Legend Lauren Bisan Etamé Mayer, a key member of the ‘Invincibles’ Arsenal team that won the English Premier League with 49 games unbeaten in the 2003/2004 season, was expected to jet into the country last evening to join the coaching team.

Lauren played right-back and made 241 appearances for Arsenal between 2000 and 2007.

Terry Aoka, the Spedag Ladies assistant coach in appreciating the learning sessions offered by the Arsenal staff said, “In coaching, there are two approaches; coach-centred and player-centred. These sessions are helping us grasp the player-centred approach which has been employed at Arsenal, where you give the player room to express themselves on the pitch.”

Other coaches who are attending the course include Francis Kimanzi (Mathare United), Zedekiah Otieno (unattached), Salim Ali (Mathare United), Sammy Omollo (Posta Rangers), Nick Yakhama (Nakuru All Stars), Fred Ambani (Nakumatt) and Elvis Ayany (KCB), among others.

Meanwhile, as parents begin to fret over Christmas and January school expenses, one teen’s parents will have it easy, thanks to their son’s football excellence in the just-concluded SportPesa Super 8 League.

Zidane Ochieng, 16, caught the attention of many sponsors and talent scouts during the nine months of the tournament.

But the one sponsorship that will make the family happy, given that his parents have always told him to balance school and football, came last month after SportPesa chairman Paul Ndung’u offered him a scholarship for all his remaining education years.

“My mother had reservations when I first started playing football at a very young age. She was worried that it would overshadow my studies,” said the soft-spoken Ochieng’.

The young player who started playing football at the age of five after being inspired by his father - football legend Edward Agwada – was last month crowned most promising player during the SportPesa Super 8 awards that were held in Nairobi.

Ochieng who started playing for the children’s team of Jericho All Stars now plays for Makadara Junior. He has been at Makadara for six years, the same team which his father - a former player of Reunion FC, Railways and Kenya Pipeline football clubs, coaches.