The fourth edition of the NPFL-LaLiga coaching clinic for Nigerian youth coaches, has ended in Abuja. The four-day clinic, which started on Tuesday, had over 150 youth coaches from the youth teams of the 20 the Nigerian Premier Football League (NPFL) Clubs, the National youth teams and other youth clubs in attendance.
The participants were trained in various ways to develop young talents using the LaLiga methodology through classroom and on-pitch sessions. The on-pitch session featured the U-15 team of the Mees Palace Academy, Jos.
Present for the duration of the coaching clinic was LaLiga Ambassador, Mutiu Adepoju, while conducting the clinic were LaLiga coaching instructors, Diego Gutierrez Ramos and Enrique Brisach Felipe.
Speaking at the closing ceremony, The Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Mr. Sunday Dare expressed his satisfaction about the program: “I am happy I made it here today. It is quite impressive to find this room filled with existing and prospective youth coaches. The fact that this has gone on for four years means that there is a clear impact and validation as to what is being done here. I want to thank LaLiga for this partnership, I think that this partnership is very critical to sports development and we hope that beyond LaLiga we can get other groups to follow through with this.”
Speaking on grassroots development, The Minister said: “At the very heart of football development are the coaches. When you talk about the technical depth of our teams and our players it rests with the coaches and it starts from the grassroots and then you tie that to the need to hunt for talents at very young ages. We need the eyes that can hunt, harvest and nurture them until they get to the level we want them to. For each one of the coaches that have been trained, we hope that they will be able to spot the talent. The ministry has conceived a program called Talent Hunt Program (THP) which will be launched in March. The program is aimed at spotting young talents and supporting them as they grow up until we federate them to the federation”.
Also speaking at the closing ceremony, LaLiga Country Delegate in Nigeria, Guillermo Pérez Castello said: “I want to say a big thank you to the Minister of Youth
