TWENTY-SIX persons were yesterday certified and equipped with the knowledge needed to be more efficient football officials, when they graduated from a five-day course at the National Racquet Centre.
The course, which featured both practical and theoretical sessions, was part of a joint partnership between the National Sports Commission, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

During yesterday’s closing ceremony, NSC Director of Sport Christopher Jones stated that events like these are testimony to government’s commitment to moving sport forward.
According to Jones, “We want to provide every opportunity for you to excel. Provide you with training; provide you with certification of participation. That is why when the opportunity presented itself, we were only too excited.”
“I want to say to you now that this is not a one and lapse, it is essentially the beginning of many more to come,” Jones added, saying that those coaches under the NSC’s ambit must be a part of courses that will enhance their particular discipline.

The course was conducted by Andre Simmelink, who works with the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) in the Netherlands as a football coach instructor and Surinamese Mr Kenneth Jaliens.
The participants comprised football coaches, physical education teachers as well as representatives from various youth and sport organisations.

Before the conclusion of yesterday’s ceremony, Director of Sport presented the two instructors with tokens of appreciation – medals and specially engraved pens – while the students handed over a framed copy of their first group picture.
In response, Simmelink contended that he hopes they take the training received and advance themselves and rather than seeing it as the end of a workshop, they see it as a new avenue through which to blossom.