The eight coaches who finished the final day of their Level 2 IRB coaching course posing for a photo with IRB Trainer and ARFU Development Officer Ismail Kadir (standing 3rd L) yesterday. BT/Syarif Rasani
Eight rugby coaches finished the final day of their Level 2 International Rugby Board (IRB) coaching course yesterday.
Despite ending their theory and practical sessions with IRB Trainer and Asian Rugby Football Union (ARFU) Development Officer, Ismail Kadir, they must still continue with a six session diary to receive their qualification. The dairy requires them to coach six matches or trainings, giving specific details on everything they did during the sessions.
Over the three days of learning, the coaches were taught new ways of conducting lessons at the Sports School in Kg Pulaie before ending with a session teaching young children at the International School Brunei. For those that didn't manage to pass yesterday's practical session, they will be able to get a passing grade if they film their future sessions and send it to the IRB.
Ismail told The Brunei Times that the local coaches still need to work on their teaching as they are not fully there yet. "I think for the local coaches, there is still room for improvement in terms of the need to be out there coaching," noted Ismail.
Ismail shared that he told Brunei Rugby Football Union (BRFU) Advisor Ainol Razman Ghazaly that the way to move forward to build on Brunei's performance is basically to have good players, and in order to have good players you must have good coaches. "These guys were exposed to the new ways of teaching which IRB want to push through to all these coaches," Ismail said.
"It's not so much on skills or technique. It's the pedagogy, the teaching style. "Teaching techniques of a coach - where they are going to stand, what they are going to look for and identify for weaknesses and strength in terms of planning - it's all inclusive," added Ismail.
Knights Rugby Football Club player Lim Shen Quan shared that the three days helped him learn more about the sport. "For me, the coaching is international standard (and) it pointed out things we don't see as a player," said Lim.
"So for us players, it's good for development because there is young blood coming in to the clubs from schools - so this is helpful. "We need this standard (Level 2) so we can bring it down to schools.
"We're looking forward to more opportunities from the IRB to conduct more courses like this. It's the best for the future of Brunei rugby," added Lim. Meanwhile, BRFU will be organising the 'Get Into Rugby' programme - an International Rugby Board (IRB) initiative - programme at the Berakas Sports Complex on Sunday, with 400 participants between the ages of four and 14 already having signed up.
A previous report in The Brunei Times stated the programme will take around three hours and participants will work on core skills and then get to play the sport for two hours. Eventually, the union hopes to get 4,000 children for the 'Get Into Rugby' programme, and a 10 per cent retention.
"Four hundred would be enough to stay in the game, and once they stay, we can have kids playing from the age of four," said Ainol on Tuesday. "We need to find the talent right now so when Brunei hosts the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in 2019, they will be at the peak of their rugby career in their twenties," Ainol added.
Participating schools include government and private schools, and around 100 teacher and parent volunteers are also expected on the day.
