IT HAS always been the thrust of the Philippine Football Federation (PFF) to have only licensed coaches participate in all football tournaments. That plan has been set in motion in the tournaments directly organized by the PFF like the Stars of Tomorrow Boys 15 tournament as it requires the coaches to have certain licenses.
But in other tournaments sanctioned by its member associations, which automatically comes under the PFF sanctions too, that has yet to be implemented. Until now. As far as I know, the AboitizLand Football Tournament, formerly known as the Aboitiz Cup, will be the first to require coaches to be licensed.
And like I said, it’s about time. The Central Visayas Football Association (CVFA) and its predecessor, the Cebu Football Association, have held so many coaching clinics in the past eight years or so that there’s no excuse for a football coach, especially one handling a school-based team, not to have even the most basic of licenses.
This weekend, there’s going to be another Philippine Youth Coaching Course seminar that will be hosted by the CVFA, so those who still don’t have their licenses can finally have one. The non-licensed coaches in Cebu fall under two categories, the newbie coaches, mostly active players who decided to take on coaching duties, and the veterans who think joining seminars led by people who weren’t even born when they were playing is beneath them.
But with the CVFA adopting such rule in the Aboitiz Cup, they either have to get on with the program or find another tournament to coach. However, with the Aboitiz Cup being Cebu’s most prestigious tournament, one that players and teams plan for the whole year round, is it really worth it? To skip it because you don’t have a license?
Wouldn’t it be easier to just get that license? Besides, the CVFA isn’t asking you guys to be License A holders, just the very basic.
By the way, the rule has created a bonanza of sorts for some licensed coaches. The inter-company division, which usually have teams that assign an employee to coach his fellow employees, are busy scrambling for licensed coaches to lead their teams. The coaching staff in one school-based team is now handling three inter-company teams and that’s an advantage for them.
Being licensed holders, you see, has its advantages.