Premier Skills readies new generation of coaches and referees in India

Premier Skills, the football-based programme run by the Premier League and the British Council, concluded its Phase 3 referee development and coach educator training course in Mumbai today.

The week-long course took place at Reliance Corporate Park, Ghansoli in Navi Mumbai and will be run in association with the Indian Super League. Premier Skills Coach Educators Jez Weeks and Graham Robinson delivered the sessions which aimed to provide 17 coaches and 30 referees from across India with the knowledge and skills to run their own training courses within their communities.

The Premier Skills participants on the Phase 3 course were from seven states across India – including four coaches from Maharashtra (Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur). Since the start of the year more than 450 district level football coaches have received training from these Premier Skills Coach Educators.

Since Premier Skills began in 2007, 21,891 coaches and referees have been trained in 29* countries, who in turn have reached over 1.6 million young people.

Since 2007, Premier Skills has partnered with the Sports Authority of India, Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sport, Indian Super League, NGOs and community groups to train 1902 coaches and referees, who in turn have reached 105449 young people promoting inclusion and equality and tackling gender norms by increasing female participation in sports.

6,000 teachers have received training in the use of the Premier Skills English materials, with 6.5 million views of the materials online.

Jeremy Weekes, currently a Head Coach Educator for the Premier Skills programme, told Sportskeeda that the aim of the programme was to bring communities together, using the power of football.

"So many kids, boys and girls, in India want to play football. At Premier Skills, we want to give them the opportunity to do that, and do it at a good level by ensuring they have coaches in their community itself," Weekes said.

Weekes said that it is only natural that most of these kids in the community probably won't go on to play football at any professional level. "Our aim is to let these kids enjoy their football. If they love the sport they're playing at a young age, there's a much higher chance that this will be what they want to do for a living," the Englishman said.

But how does Premier Skills identify communities and coaches? "We've got faith in our partners, the AIFF, the SAI and the ISL clubs. Right now, all ten ISL clubs are associated with us, and we take their help in delivering our programmes," Weekes said.

One of the participants in the programme, Tanaz Mohammed is now a coach in the grassroots programme run by ISL club Mumbai City FC. She said Premier Skills has enabled her to be bolder in delivering football to the community.

Tanaz Mohammed is a grassroots coach at ISL club Mumbai City FC

"My dream is to see more girls coming and playing football," she said. Mohammed added that Premier Skills had brought about a change for girls in football in her community.

"There are barriers, but those are in our head. I'm positive that I can get these young girls from the local community to enjoy football, and as a Premier Skills coach, I myself am learning all the time," she said.

Having delivered the programme from Delhi to Kochi, Guwahati to Mumbai, even in the islands of Lakshadweep, Premier Skills is definitely having an impact on the local communities of India.

"Football is the beautiful game," Weekes says, "Why not spread the message of unity and happiness with it?"