Practical challenges of coaching in East Africa
The practical challenges currently faced by coaches in East Africa include limited infrastructure, transportation, access to funds, training and equipment, and limited dialogue with other coaches.
“The players are coming from different places and when it rains it is difficult to come for practises and attend to matches,” explains one coach, highlighting the distances travelled by some children to attend training sessions.
KAO! explains, “A lack of training materials in the league fields makes it difficult for the players to practice and carry out coaching sessions.”
Also, limited funding inhibits players’ potential: “Because of lack of funds, players do not practice more and this results in poor performance.”
KAO! hopes that the EACCES initiative, with the vision of bolstering and standardising community coaching practices across East Africa, will offer support in overcoming some of these barriers.
When asked about the support they would expect from the EACCES initiative, coaches mention more organised training, provision of sufficient training materials, follow-up support to coaches after training, and the organisation of more meetings so that coaches could share their experiences.
“EACCES should plan and organise for exchange visits so that coaches can learn from each other,” one coach suggests.
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