Participants at the World Taekwondo Coaching Course in Abuja on Monday assured that they would impact the knowledge acquired from the exercise to their various athletes.
101 coaches and umpires from five countries, including Nigeria, featured in the two-day session at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium in Abuja.
Some of the participants told NAN that they were exposed to recent techniques in the sport during the course.
Maxwell Alornyo, the national coach of Ghana, said they were exposed to a lot more issues than they had expected.
“When we came, we thought we were going to learn about taekwondo only, but the table of contents has gone beyond what we expected.
“We have learnt how to bring up the kids and also learnt about the effect drugs have on the athletes, as well as the ethics of the game and not only how to raise champions.
“I believe that when we go back and put all that we have learnt to practice, it would help us perform better internationally,’’ Alornyo said.
Blessing Nwakanma, a taekwondo practitioner from Lagos, said the course has exposed her to areas she needed to improve on as a coach.
“The course is basically to enlighten the coaches and bring them up to world standard.
“It has exposed the coaches to areas they need to know and how to apply the knowledge on the students and in whatever situation they find themselves.
“It is not just about taking the students to championships and not knowing the exact rules and when to apply them,’’ Nwakanma said.
On his part, Togolese Degboe Leonidas, the technical manager of taekwondo in his country, said the course was very essential to his administrative duties.
“The course has been interesting and we have learnt a lot. As a technical manager, I am learning not basically how to coach the children but how to manage administrative issues’’ he said.(NAN)
