I hail from the tiny hills of Mizoram. Football is the most popular game. It was, is and hopefully always will be. I have the privilege of growing up in an environment of football. How many people can claim that they joined their first football residential camp at the age of four months? Yes, I said four months and I am not even a boy! Not that girls can’t share the same passion/profession as boys, but what I meant to say is that the relationship I have with football goes way back.
Now, 25 years later, Mizoram has a football league with grass turfs to play on and so many great football players that I can’t even keep up. I almost always know all the good players in the state but now, we have eight teams with at least 28 players each and I know only a few.
Getting back to the point, this year our MPL (Mizoram Premier League) marks the second season. I was bummed I wasn’t here for the first season but I have been following my team since pre-season tournaments.
The changes that I have seen over the years with clubs, players and even management are worth mentioning, and I am glad to say that Mizoram is walking towards the horizon. Back in the days, almost all the clubs hired people who were interested in the game as coaches, without hiring actual qualified coaches. In 2013, that issue is partially gone. But the question remains, who are these qualified coaches? I was reading a group post on Facebook and came across fans wanting trained coaches. For as long as I remembered, National Institute of Sports diploma holders were considered to be qualified coaches. But I guess AIFF changed the requirement for I-league coaches and now they want AFC license ‘A’ holder. Let me clear that up just in case you don’t know much about both of these qualifications.
NIS diploma is a 1 year course where the aspirants study about their game of choice and if I am not wrong, they even include sports medicine etc. The entry requirements are set in such a way that not everyone who knows the game can study; they have to have been an active participant in the game with excellence and it also requires a bachelor degree or a class 12 certificate. Candidate seeking admission to Diploma Course in Sports Coaching have to undergo the following tests:
Theory: General Knowledge and the knowledge in the sports disciplines opted.
Practical: Proficiency in skills and tactics of the specialized sports (wherever applicable)
Interview: Personality, power of expressions, knowledge.
(Source: http://www.nsnis.org/diploma.htm)
On the other hand, AFC license starts from License ‘D’ and goes all the way up to ‘A’. Now there are requirements for these courses too. There is no requirement for education qualifications so it is safe to assume any individual with a level of English understanding abilities can apply, of course after fulfilling the other requirements. For License ‘D’:
- Participants should have playing experience and knowledge of the game at any level.
- All participants must be examined by an MBBS Doctor before the course starts and declared healthy and fit to perform the practical lessons during the course. A fitness certificate stating that the candidate is physically fit to participate for the practical sessions in the course has to be produced for the same.
- Participants should have knowledge of English (read and write) since the medium of instruction and course materials are in English.
- Active Referees participation: Active Referees can also participate up to AFC ‘C’ Certificate Coaching Course.
- Participants should be committed to coaching and be willing to actively continue in coaching.
- It is compulsory for all the participants to attend all the sessions.
- Participants will bear all costs involved in the participation of the course including study material, playing kit, etc.
- A D-License holder will be able to coach in Grassroots football, college and school teams, District and Inter-city Championships etc.
(Source: http://www.the-aiff.com/coaching-courses.htm)
The first course is a 6-day course and license ‘C’ is a 13-day course. To go to the next level of license, one needs to pass the previous course. License ‘B’ and ‘A’ take 20 and 27 days respectively to complete the course. Now, what you have to keep in mind is that, not all aspirants pass with flying colours.
NIS coaching courses have been around since 1961 and an NIS diploma was the qualification that we were using before AFC license came in to completely discredit NIS. I am all for the changes for development but what we need to think about is, are these changes always good? One year, which is 365 days, is a lot of time to breathe and study the game. However, if you take all the days needed for the license courses, it is 66 days! That is 299 days short of the qualification which we have discredited.
I hear people talk about how great this license is but the truth is, what can these so-called coaches learn in 66 days that is so much better to discredit a 365-day diploma? I know good coaches who have their diploma but are already a little aged to do the license course and I feel bad that these self proclaimed sports writers of today are looking down on their diploma without knowing a thing about it in the first place. AFC license is recognized for the whole of Asia but why can’t an NIS diploma be recognized even if just for India, and be made equivalent to License ‘A’ for the purpose of the development of the game? We have so many great coaches who have the diploma and can continue working towards the development in our motherland.
I do not earn my living in sports nor try to. I am a business graduate who just wants development in football and to have administrators of football in India realize they need to work for the development of the beautiful game and not for their contacts or personal gains.
