Nineteen coaches from 11 major sport organisations affiliated to the MOC successfully completed a 10-month specialised course in Youth Coaching sponsored by Olympic Solidarity.
This course was innovative in that it was delivered online on the Maltese Olympic Committee’s own teaching platform “Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment” (MOODLE).This system is fast becoming very popular as a way to give the opportunity to busy people a method to study at their own pace without interrupting their busy agenda.
The Envic Galea Youth director of the MOC had set up this platform two years ago, with the assistance of Olympic Solidarity, in order to introduce the Clubmark system of sports’ clubs accreditation. It was also used to give Maltese youth coaches a good introduction to strength training. After getting well acquainted with the potential of this teaching platform, the MOC Youth Section proposed the ambitious programme to deliver an academic diploma.
The Maltese Olympic Committee consulted Semmelweis University in Hungary which already had connections with Olympic Solidarity. Semmelweis University is an internationally well known state university, from where 89 Olympic champions graduated. Presently Hungary holds eighth position in the Olympic Medal ranking with 463 medals and has a great tradition in sport.
The faculty of medicine at Semmelweis University has three sections dedicated to prevention, curing and rehabilitation. The curing and rehabilitation is committed to the formation of medical doctors, dentists, pharmacists and nurses, physiotherapists midwives. Prevention is wholly devoted to physical education and Sport Science. This was the faculty that accepted to provide the MOC with the coaching diploma specialised in youth studies.
Dr Tibor Kozsla the Strategic and International Director, enthusiastically picked up the Maltese Olympic Committee’s proposal to prepare this 10-month course and immediately found the support of Dr Csaba Sos Head of the Swimming Department, specialist in youth physiology.
After various discussions it was concluded that the University would provide 6 modules namely:
Olympic Movement – International Sports Structure by Dr Tibor Kozsla
Development Exercise Physiology – Biomechanics by Dr Csaba Sos, Prof. Dr Janos Meszaros and Prof. Jozef Tihanyi
Coaching Principles by Dr Jozef Bognar
Ethics – Sports Law by Dr Judith Farkas
Leadership – Decision Making by Dr Tibor Kozsla
ICT in Coaching by Mr Robert Vass and Mr Tamas Schaffer
Olympic Solidarity accepted the MOC’s proposal as a pilot project under the Development of National Youth Sport Structure funding.
The objectives of this course were principally for the enhancement of Maltese sports and the proper preparation of the young athlete, development of National Youth Sport structure in the National Federation and the appropriate support for the preparation of young Maltese athletes for international competitions, such as the Youth Olympic Games, European Youth Olympic Festival, Commonwealth Youth Games and other international games and championships to which they have to be eventually exposed.
Once Olympic Solidarity gave the green lights, Semmelweis University appointed Gergely Kiss as their coordinator and he was to communicate with Josephine Calleja his counterpart from the Malta side.
It took some time until the coaches adapted to this style of study but they soon got used to logging in to Moodle, downloading their lectures and uploading their assignments.
On occasions they were all called to the MOC’s headquarters for a Skype meeting with the lecturers, where thanks to modern technology the four Hungarian professors, all in their own offices, conversed with the Maltese coaches on a specific subject.
Although the bulk of the delivery and examinations were online, the Hungarian professors visited their students on three occasions. Finally the Dean, Vice Dean, International Director and the coordinator proudly attended the official ceremony of graduation in Malta, where during the dinner organised for the occasion, the 19 successful coaches, in the presence of the secretary general of the MOC, Joseph Cassar, the Youth Director Envic Galea, friends and relatives, collected their diploma in Youth Coaching Third Level.
The successful coaches were:
Angie Mangion and Gwen Fava (Athletics), Henning Schulze Doring (Golf), Leanne Bartolo and Roberto De Santis (Gymnastics), Matthew Mamo and Milos Stanisavljevic (Handball), Ivan Zammit, Neville Schembri, Ray Fava and Vito Aufieri (Judo), Karen Aquilina and Marcon Cassar (Netball), Charlene Curmi (Rugby), Gail Rizzo (Swimming), Johanna Grech and Kevan Azzopardi (Table Tennis), Mark Gatt (Tennis), and Jesmond Caruana (Weightlifting).
The feedback from the coaches was very encouraging. They said the course was of a very high standard and it gave them a full insight on youth physiology which will help them in design the right programme for the future Maltese Champions.
The MOC is already in discussions with Olympic Solidarity and Semmelweis University for a follow-up on this course, so that what the coaches have learnt could be put into practice for the benefit of their National Federation. These newly motivated coaches are to co-ordinate with their National Federation in the preparation of a national restructure for youth training.
It is hoped that after this success Olympic Solidarity would also support this project and fund the MOC to engage the services of Semmelweis University once again as a consultant in the application of the scientific techniques they had learnt. The National Federations are already selecting a national team pool to be put under the guidance of these coaches.
It is hoped that through this investment Maltese youth sports will continue its road to success and provide the right environment for the creation of champions.