Myanmar News Links: Premier League Helps Train Burmese Football Coaches

Thursday, 22 May 2014

Premier League Helps Train Burmese Football Coaches

Premier League, football, soccer, sports, British Council, Myanmar Football Federation

Burma women's football team player Than Than Htwe in action against Vietnam in Mandalay in December. (Photo: Myanmar Football Federation)

RANGOON — The English Premier League, the British Club and the Myanmar Football Federation are teaming up to train Burmese football coaches and referees this week in Rangoon.

Forty-eight Burmese coaches and referees from across the country began on Tuesday the six-day Premier Skills program at Thuwanna Stadium's Youth Training Center, the Premier League and British Club said in a statement. The Burmese coaches and referees came from Rangoon, Taunggyi, Mandalay and Moulmein.

Premier Skills is a program that uses football to help vulnerable youths raise their self-esteem and develop a better sense of community. In 23 countries across Asia, Africa and the Americas, the program has trained 2,300 coaches and referees, who have in turn assisted 500,000 youths.

"Over the course of the next two years, a core group of local coach educators will be trained to then take Premier Skills forward, passing on what they have learned by training up yet more grassroots coaches, ensuring the project's long-term sustainability in Myanmar [Burma]," Kevin Mackenzie, country director of the British Council in Burma, said in the statement.