Former AFC Leopards coach Ivan Minnaert shares instructions with Ligi Ndogo coaches during a session on January 22, 2019. PHOTO/Timothy Olobulu
NAIROBI, Kenya, Jan 23 – Former AFC Leopards head coach Ivan Minnaert has been in the country for the past 10 days, lending his expertise to the Ligi Ndogo Academy coaches and players.
Minnaert who has also coached Djoliba in Mali, Ittihad in Libya and Rwanda’s Rayon Sports has been training the Academy coaches from the Under9s to Under17s as he looks to sharpen their skills and in the long run trabslate the same to players coming through the Ngong Road based academy.
“Four years ago when I was here with AFC I did some consultancy work for them and now that I am free, they called and asked whether I could come in and I said why not. I had good moments here in Kenya and it is always good to come back,” Minnaert told Capital Sport.
He added; “The whole idea is to try and give some knowledge to the coaches and to make the academy better. Hopefully they are going to pick up the little things I have imparted on them and in future produce good players for not only the Kenyan league but also internationally.”
Former AFC Leopards coach Ivan Minnaert speaks to Ligi Ndogo director Chris Amimo during a session on January 22, 2019. PHOTO/Timothy Olobulu
Ligi Ndogo who also have a team that features in the Football Kenya Division One League has teams at Under9, 13, 15 and 17 levels and it is this age groups that the tactician has been working on.
“He did some good work for us previously and we made contact with him to try and come do some capacity building on our coaches because we want to move a level higher,” Ligi Ndogo Director Chris Amimo said.
“I am really pleased with what he has done for the teams and the coaches because you can already see the change. Hopefully we can have him come over more but all that depends on his availability. We definitely can’t afford him for the long term but if we can have him come for short periods, it will still be helpful,” he added.
Former AFC Leopards coach Ivan Minnaert demonstrates a point during a training session with Ligi Ndogo Academy Under-17 players on January 22, 2019. PHOTO/Timothy Olobulu
Meanwhile has at the same time challenged the coaches to invest in more innovative ways of coaching to ensure they keep abreast with the ever-changing modern football landscape.
“When you are a coach, you have to eat and live football. They need to keep researching and invest a lot of their time to learn new trends and how the game changes and then try to blend that into their own philosophies,” the coach advised.
