World Taekwondo has approved a coach certification course which will take place in Nigeria.
The event between December 15 and 16 will have a level one grading and be held in capital city Abuja. It will be the first English version of the course to take place in Africa after it was previously held in Arabic in Egypt and Morocco. Sudan is set to host another Arabic course while it will take place in French in Senegal. “The English version in Nigeria gives a huge opportunity to coaches from Anglophone countries in Africa to benefit from the course, ahead of the Olympic year of 2020,” the Nigerian Taekwondo Federation (NTF) said. “Participant coaches are expected to be taught about the competition rules, games management, medical and anti-doping, the World Taekwondo global membership system and other topics crucial for coaches to make a difference at competitive events.” A minimum of 50 coaches are expected to take part in Abuja. “We really thank the World Taekwondo body for approving the programme in Nigeria,” said NTF President Margaret Binga. “The World Taekwondo body is really doing a lot to ensure development spreads across the continent. “It will cost a fortune to send our coaches to other countries to get this knowledge.
“Attracting this programme makes it very affordable for our coaches. “We even pushed and got a 50 per cent discount in registration fees to reduce the financial burden so that all our coaches, at the elite and grassroots level, can participate. “From 2021, this certification is required for any coach to participate in another World Taekwondo event. “We initially wanted to organise a national coaching workshop during the Korean Ambassador Cup in October. “But my team successfully argued that we should upgrade to the World Taekwondo coaching certification so as to triple the benefits to our coaches and taekwondo community.” Chika Chukwumerije, who won an Olympic bronze medal for Nigeria in the over-80 kilograms division at Beijing 2008, is now the country’s technical director. “Honestly, the quality of our future athletes is very dependent on the quality of our grassroots coaches,” he said. “Every coach or athlete-coach should have quality knowledge to transfer to their athletes from the very beginning. “Participation in a quality event like this helps the coach and consequently the state and the nation to produce better quality athletes.”
