Football Federation Samoa (‘the Federation’) through FIFA Assistance delivered the inaugural or first ever FIFA Beach Soccer Coaching Course this week at the home of Football in Tuanaimato Apia Samoa. The five (5) day Beach Soccer Coaching Course started on Monday and will conclude today.
The aim of the Course is to introduce the concept of Beach Soccer in Samoa as well as providing a variation to the forms of football played in our country. Generally, football or soccer is traditionally played out on open grass fields. However, the introduction of Beach Soccer to Samoa is timely in view of the fact that we are surrounded by beaches, and we live on an island.
According to FIFA Instructor Ramon Raya, “FIFA has introduced the concept of Beach Football with the aim that the Federation will acknowledge the potential of Beach Soccer here in Samoa as an addition to normal soccer or Futsal. The introduction of Beach Soccer will add to the development of plans and provides another avenue for football players to pursue this different form of soccer.
The five (5) day training Course covered topics such as the role of coaches, technical skills, goalkeeping training and beach soccer training skills amongst other key concepts. As this is a new concept, the Trainer highlighted that the introduction and delivery of Beach Soccer needs a lot of commitment and passion from local coaches.
The concept of playing soccer on the sand or at the beach. The FIFA instructor acknowledged participants through their active contribution to the Course in their eagerness to learn about this new form of soccer. Raya added that the participants were open to discussions and willing to learn about this new type of soccer and could see the connection between participants and the idea of playing soccer at the beach.
The Federation’s Technical Director acknowledged the assistance of FIFA in delivering this first ever Course as part of the Federation’s plans in rolling out soccer development.
