The Tribune

WHEN the Government Secondary Schools Sports Association kicks of its 2014-15 season, all coaches must be nationally certified in order to coach their school’s team during each of the five disciplines contested during the course of the year.

According to GSSSA president Kevin ‘KJ’ Johnson, they have received a communication from the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology that all coaches wishing to coach school sports this year will have to be certified.

“For each core sport, we will have certification courses for all of our coaches,” Johnson said.

“We know that there are some coaches certified, but we will be working with the local associations and federations to ensure that all of the coaches are certified.”

With volleyball as the first sport on the calendar, Johnson said they intend to stage the certification in conjunction with the Bahamas Volleyball Federation for their coaches next Thursday and Friday.

He indicated that all of the coaches will be properly informed because they don’t want anyone to miss out on the opportunity to become certified.

“I think it’s a good thing because it will keep everybody current on the rules and regulations of each sport,” Johnson stated.

“We are going to make sure that our kids are taught and coached the right way. With that being said, I think the coaches will appreciate it and enjoy being certified.

“A lot of our coaches are certified, but we still have some coaches who are not. So we will be making sure that everybody stays current so that they can coach our kids in the proper manner.”

Immediately following volleyball, the GSSSA will switch its attention to basketball, followed by soccer, track and field and finally baseball for boys and softball for girls.

“We are going to make sure that we have the certification courses for each sport just before we start the sports,” Johnson said.

“We’re going to make sure that this is done this year. Each federation is mandated to work along with us and so we are looking forward to the assistance from the volleyball, basketball, soccer, track and field and baseball and softball federations to work with us towards this end.”

In the meantime, Johnson said there are no changes in the coaching personnel at the various schools throughout New Providence.

“All of the coaches are still in place,” he said.

And with regard to the dispute that surfaced last year within their administration, Johnson said they have sorted them all out and they are just getting ready to start the volleyball season at the end of September.