Okon praise for Nigeria Women’s League-LaLiga ties, courses

The Nigeria Women Football League (NWFL) Premiership side, Rivers Angels’ manager, Edwin Okon says he is quite the happiest of coaches following a recent NWFL-LaLiga Coaches Online Training Masterclass – part of a wider engagement that the NWFL has with Spain’s LaLiga.

The online programme, which took place over two days in mid-June, aims to take coaches to greater heights and is a key element of a Memorandum of Association (MoU) signed in 2018 between the NWFL and LaLiga.

Okon said the programme touched on all the modern coaching techniques in women’s football as well as offering a refresher to participants who have not had the luxury of attending such a high-level course in several years.

“The course is good to us who had the rare privilege to participate in the programme which is almost like the first of its kind in this part of our world.

“I have been craving for opportunity to say a big thank you to the NWFL Management Committee under the leadership of Aisha Falode and the Spanish LaLiga team for putting in place such a wonderful programme in a very short time.

“Of course, I’m the happiest man among my mates that participated in the programme the saying that no knowledge is lost is true in this context.

“It has been a while we had such opportunity to undergo refresher course and this particular one came in at the right time when we needed it the most.

“We were thought many things ranging from the aspect of organisation to micro training programme, among others.

“We were allowed to ask questions and seek further clarifications on anything we did not understand and prompt answers were provided.

“Anyone who participated in the course and who termed it a waste of time and not educative then something must be wrong with the person(s).

“I’m already looking forward to this kind of course in the nearest future, I want to thank the NWFL board, NFF and other stakeholders for this wonderful opportunity,” said the former Nigerian coach.

Okon said the course is impacting and will go a long way to further enrich his technical bench in the coming league season.

“The course has so much impact on me and my crew as the programme refreshed my memory and brought back afresh to my memory many thing I have left unattended to or taken for granted.

“Already I have called my coaches to a round table discussion where we reviewed the course content, we elaborated on the content and put them to immediate practice.

“The course content is technical, we had our pens and notebook to jot things down even though they promised to avail us with the course handout,” said Okon.

Okon had kind words for the NWFL Management Committee led by Aisha Falode for their numerous programmes toward uplifting the fortune of the league.

“I will always offer fervent prayers for the board, may God continue to bless them and I pray, too that the corporate bodies should look into their direction to assist them in their daunting tasks.

“If there is sponsor today the thing that will happen to the league will be unimaginable and even the worst critic will admit that the league has come of age.

“I pray, too the on-going push for continental competition for women will see the light of the day and when that happens it will be the crowning of the effort of the management.

“For us at Rivers Angels we are happy with the NWFL management and will continue to pray and support them in all their doings,” said Okon.   

Falode in her opening speech for the course programme affirmed that the women’s league body has the mandate to evolve into a global league brand, capable of competing favourably with top women’s leagues across the world.