In conjunction with the 2016 IBSA Goalball Africa Regional Championships, IBSA Goalball conducted a series of clinics while in Algiers that were targeted to share knowledge of Goalball for coaches, officials and event organizers.

The main focus of these clinics, coaching, was provided by IBSA Goalball Coach Representative and Swedish Men’s National Team Coach Florim Seremeti.  Sessions over several days included how to plan for training,  long-term athlete and team planning, on-court exercises and drills, personal athlete guidance in defense and throwing, video analysis and mental training. Florim and coaches continued with many constructive discussions that were held after each game. “I was pleased to see even some little improvements in players’ postures and movements on court influence the quality of games” said Florim.  He added, “I’d like to work with these players a few months to see even bigger difference. It is fantastic to see the coaches use the new knowledge in the games so quickly, We have made great improvements in just a couple of days.”

Participants were engaged and happy with the clinics.  Here are comments from some of the participants:

Abderrahmane Lamaaiz (Moroccan women’s coach): “For me getting to know some of the basic defensive techniques was very helpful and we saw some progress in just a few days, I can’t wait till I get home to keep on working with the team.”  “Time management before the game was very helpful to learn so that the players has the best opportunity’s to perform on court.“

Said Himi (Moroccan men’s and women’s coach): “Very pleased, a lot of information that has made me think.  I will have a gathering in seven schools in Morocco were I will share the same information with so that goalball in Morocco develops even faster.” 

Soaissa Abderazek (Tunisian men’s and women’s coach):  “I feel lucky to have had the opportunity to take part in the clinic and getting a lot of new ideas on how to work with my teams”  “Sport psychology was very interesting to know how much you as a coach can affect your team without knowing it, we need to train our mind as much as we train our bodies.”

Another very important part of the clinic sessions was to understand the sport’s rules and the interpretations of those rules. Many of the team members know now how to avoid some simple and unnecessary mistakes during the games, such as what causes illegal coaching, when and how to request time outs and how to properly request substitutions.

During the last evening,  all participants had an opportunity to discuss how to organize friendly games and even larger tournaments like the IBSA Goalball African Championships. Most of the different sessions of the clinics included 25-35 participants.

All participants received a Certification of Participation for their efforts.  Significant is the fact that all participants agreed to use the knowledge they gained and organize similar clinics  workshops in other parts of the large Africa region. IBSA Goalball chairman Kari Räsänen agrees that this is an excellent way to spread the sport into new countries and improve the quality of Goalball in Africa and other continents.