Football is a fantastic vehicle for bringing people together. To play there has to be dialogue and an understanding of people. It requires a willingness to trust in each other as team members and as a result we are able to collaborate and share ideas and learning from one another; and so what better way can there be to deliver cultural relations than through Football and in particular Premier Skills!!!

On Saturday 15 May, Thanh Long Sport Centre in Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City burst into laughter and tears as the intensive Premier Skills Phase 2 training came to an end.

The closing ceremony took place with lots of memories and reflections of a week full of activities and interactions. The programme was described by most of the participants as the most rewarding experience they have had in their football coaching careers! It has also been immensely popular; with a series of TV broadcasts and newspaper reports.

The training was for 24 selected community coaches and physical education teachers from right across Vietnam, Korea and Malaysia, following on from successful training which took place in the three countries throughout last year.

Under the searing heat of Ho Chi Minh City, the three British coaches Robbie Earle, Johnnie Carside and Nicholas Phipps had taken all the trainees through a week full of challenges, joys and achievements.

Jointly organised by The British Council Vietnam, the Premier League and the Vietnam Sports Administration, the training comprised both theories on developing and delivering sport activities at community level as well as practical sessions on the pitch.

Robbie Earle, who has been Head Coach on ten previous Premier Skills projects was joined by Everton’s Johnnie Garside, who was a Head Coach in Korea as well as part of the Premier Skills coaching team in Kerala, India and Malawi. They were joined by Nicholas Phipps, a community coach for the Tottenham Hotspur Foundation, who was covering all aspects of football work from disability, education and sport development.

Premier Skills has already successfully run in 22 different centres in 15 countries worldwide. In East Asia, initial Phase 1 training courses took place in Vietnam, Korea and Malaysia. During Phase 1 courses over 40 young male and female coaches were trained in each of the countries.

Now that the training has finished, the coaches have gone back to their communities with well developed actions plans stating what they will do in the next 12 months. They are all very enthusiastic and looking forward to applying their newly gained knowledge and skills.

Click here for more information on the Premier Skills project.