RIYADH, 19 May — Two leading tutors from UK’s National Coaching Foundation are in the Kingdom to conduct a two-week course for Saudi coaches.
A spokesman of the BAE Systems, the sponsor of the program, told Arab News that 20 Saudi coaches were on the course, held for the first time in both English and Arabic, at the Sports Leaders Institute in Riyadh. Nick Smith and Dr. Neil Fowler, both from Manchester’s Metropolitan University, are teaching the essential aspects of coaching, including motivation, anatomy, nutrition and physiology.
“Some of Saudi Arabia’s most experienced coaches do not speak English. This latest development will mean that the course is now open to a much greater number of participants,” said Muhammad Al-Gernass, director of the Sports Leaders Institute and a member of the Saudi-UK joint committee that organized the course..
“There are now some 500 Saudi coaches, but none at the UK’s level two stage, so there had been a great deal of interest in holding the course for Saudi athletes. By holding it in Arabic and English, we are opening the opportunity to everyone,” he said.
Al-Gernass added that coaching courses held under the MoU were of vital importance to the country’s sports industry. “It is a primary example of nationalization,” he continued. “Our own athletes are being trained to world class levels and soon could all be trained by Saudis.”
Abdullah Al-Isa, one of the Saudi tutors, said he was proud to be on the course.
“When Saudis have finished playing at international levels, coaching up-and -coming talent is a great way to give back to the country,” he said, adding the course would ensure that Saudi Arabia’s young sportsmen could be trained to international standards.
BAE Systems and the General Presidency for Youth Welfare jointly coordinate the MoU, which was signed in 1987. The course is part of a range of activities held throughout the year both in the Kingdom and the UK. Last year’s record number of events—44 in all— involved bicycle races, tennis tournaments and also the start of an MSc course in Sports Medicine for Saudi physicians.
BAE Systems is the name of the new company formed by the November 1999 merger of British Aerospace and Marconi Electronic Systems. The company employs around 2,700 Saudi nationals in the Kingdom and has provided training for thousands more employed in external organizations.
