The course was led by FIFA instructors Angelo Schirinzi, player-coach of the Swiss national beach soccer team, and Patrick Jacquemet, OFC technical director, while FIFA’s Oceania referee development officer Massimo Raveino took control of the refereeing matters.
The gathering was attended by 12 coaches and 10 referees from five OFC member associations (Fiji, New Caledonia, Solomon Islands, Tahiti and Vanuatu) and was hosted at the Federation Tahitienne De Football technical department in Pirae.
The main objectives were to improve the knowledge of the Pacific region’s beach soccer coaches and referees and kick off the preparations for both the OFC Beach Soccer Championship, to be held in Tahiti from February 20 to 26, and the upcoming FIFA Beach Soccer World Cups, taking place in Italy next September and in Tahiti in 2013.
Schirinzi, who led Switzerland to a runners-up finish at the previous World Cup in Dubai last year, believes the Pacific nations have great potential to do well at the beach version of the world game and is happy with how the course went.
“The participants were very motivated and are of a high level, all of them are working with national teams,” he says. “We have had great fun but are working hard to improve beach soccer in Oceania.”
He thinks the 2013 World Cup in Tahiti will be a success and feels the OFC representatives have every chance of excelling.
“FIFA is running huge tournaments and we saw in Dubai last year that the World Cup was a great event. I think it will be a great event again here in Tahiti,” Schirinzi says.
“The Solomon Islands were not very experienced at the last World Cup in terms of tactics but they learned a lot and worked hard. I think the OFC team will get much better results next time.”
Schirinzi believes beach soccer offers the Oceania countries a good opportunity to compete on the world stage.
“We have a lot of beaches in Oceania and I always say the same thing. Countries like Samoa, Solomon Islands and Tahiti will not have much of a chance to compete in big football competitions but in beach soccer they have a great chance to be successful.”
Fiji Football Association technical director Saiyad Ali was among those taking part in the course and relished the chance to be involved.
“We have been really looking forward to this course and I believe it is a golden opportunity for us,” he says.
“It’s great to have someone like Angelo, who has guided his team as a player and a coach to second place at the last world cup. We will definitely take the experience and knowledge he is imparting to us back to our country.”
Ali says beach soccer and Fiji are a good fit.
“We have two major islands and both are surrounded by sand so we have plenty of beaches. I think it will be a perfect sport for us to look into and take seriously.”