Serritslev has just completed a quick visit to OFC Headquarters in Auckland, New Zealand to assist the OFC Technical Department as they prepare for the first OFC A Licence.
The UEFA Technical Instructor spent 12 years coaching in the Danish Super League before joining the national federation as assistant coach of the national team.
“After that I had six years as the head coach of the U-21 team. Then I want abroad to coach. I was in Armenia for a year-and-a-half as technical director and Olympic head coach.
“Then I went to Iran before going back to Armenia. Since 2000 I’ve been what we call a UEFA Technical Instructor because in Denmark I had a lot to do with coach education – and that’s why I am here.”
Serritslev’s background – which includes running the first A Licence in Armenia – makes him a great candidate to assist the OFC Technical Department with the implementation of the highest coaching licence the OFC will offer yet.
“Flemming is very experienced in coach education and having his guiding hand is important to us as we look to launch the first OFC A Licence successfully,” OFC Technical Director Patrick Jacquemet says.
“He brings a different eye to the work and that is always a good thing.”
Jacquemet has been working with OFC Head of Coach Education Didier Chambaron and New Zealand Football Technical Director Rob Sherman over the past 18 months to put together a comprehensive, high level course.
The long hours and hard work have not gone unnoticed.
“For me the OFC is very far advanced in their coach education,” Serritslev notes.
“To me they have reached a very good level because you have really good people here to take care of coach education. It has been easy for me to adapt to the thoughts that they have about coaching education here.”
The three days he then spent with the trio of Jacquemet, Chambaron and Sherman was well spent.
“We are preparing the course but actually I would say that Patrick, Didier and Rob had already done the biggest part of the preparations and it was actually for me to come and run through their ideas and come up with a couple of ideas myself of how it could be done,” he says.
“In general teams I’ve been able to share advice on how to run the course. We’ve been out inspecting some places where it would be appropriate to run the course too, and in that respect the participants will be using some very good facilities.”
Now Oceania is half a world away from his everyday life in Europe, but the UEFA Technical Instructor did his homework on the region knowing it would be a different experience and culture.
“I know there are 11 Member Associations and three Associate Members and I also know that it is impossible to compare the OFC with UEFA because of the geographic situation,” he explains.
“Actually Europe is a very small area especially when compared to the area that OFC is covering and of course in Europe the infrastructure is very good and easy for us.”
Understanding that cultural differences can play a large part in how a course is delivered is important.
Serritslev says that’s exactly what he came to find in Armenia which is why having an understanding of Oceania and the differing cultures and people that make it up is important.
“I suppose there will be some continuity of what I was doing before because as I have said before there were some cultural differences in Armenia. People are used to receiving education if you know what I mean, they are used to one teacher and listening to what they are saying,” he says.
“This will be totally different because of course we want to involve all the participants so that they more or less are responsible for their education.”
That is one thing that Serritslev is very clear about.
The OFC A Licence course will be well prepared – on a par with the UEFA A Licence – but there will be no hand-feeding of the participants.
“I, as an instructor, am not responsible for your education. I can come and give you my sources, my ideas and I can provide you with different things where I have the knowledge, but it’s up to you whether you want to benefit from it or not.
“There’s no doubt the content has been well prepared and I would say one thing to that; if the participants don’t benefit from the course it’s due to them really because they will be served an excellent course, I have no doubt.”
Part 1 of the first OFC A Licence will be held in Auckland, New Zealand from 30 November to 11 December 2015.

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