By MICHAEL MIYOBA
THE Zambia Football Coaches Association (ZAFCA) has teamed up with the Major Sports Institute (MSI) to drill local coaches with physical fitness skills.
Over 20 candidates are participating in the first ever physical fitness workshop which kicked off yesterday in Lusaka.
The five-day programme has attracted the participation of national team attached physical trainers like Under-23 national team physical coach Christopher Katongo, Billy Mwanza from the Under-17 boys national team and Under-20 national team physical coach Donwell Yobe.
Others are the Green Buffaloes trio of coach Beauty Mwamba, Carol Kanyemba and Buchizya Mfune, Felix Katongo, Chipulu Chileya and Moomba Ng’andu are representing Napsa stars.
Former FAZ president Teddy Mulonga who is ZAFCA patron was also in attendance.
ZAFCA president Danny Kabwe thanked FAZ for supporting the training of coaches with modern techniques that embraced science.
“As ZAFCA we are very excited that this programme has finally taken off. We are happy that FAZ has opened the door for us to engage them on the many opportunities they have like the Croatian and Moroccan FA partnerships,” Kabwe said.
He said that it was their hope that through the physical fitness exercise teams would now learn to do things differently.
And course facilitator Nyasha Charandura said he was happy that Africans were embracing modern technologies in the game.
Charandura said the presence of home-grown instructors was good as it was easy to adapt the knowledge to the African set up.
Meanwhile, FAZ president Andrew Kamanga said his executive is embracing modern trends in the development of sport and welcomes the ZAFCA and Major Sports Institute partnership.
“We have invested so much effort in the last few months trying to upskill our coaches both for national teams and others that we believe can add value to the game. We did send coach Masauso Tembo and Ian Bakala to Morocco to pursue their CAF A badges while Wedson Nyirenda has just started his CAF Pro Licence course in Morocco,” Kamanga said.
Speaking during the launch of the physical fitness course in Lusaka, Kamanga said FAZ has a long-term plan to not just train more coaches but open a coaching school in Zambia.
He added that the association has been leveraging on its partnership with the Croatia Football Federation to help set up the coaching school in Zambia.
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