Davis heads to Malaysia

This week sees the first of eight FA courses which are being held in Kuala Lumpur over the next three weeks. As part of the Asian Football Confederation Education Seminar Programme, The FA’s National Disability Development Manager, Jeff Davis, will deliver a FA course on Disability Football, the first time a workshop of this kind has been delivered as part of The FA’s International Development Programme.

Jeff said; "One of the objectives of The Football Association is to allow everybody who wishes to play the game, the opportunity to reach their potential. In England the development of disability football has a seen a dramatic increase in the number of disabled players playing the game; in 2004 we had only around 10,000 people taking part in activity, in 2007 we had 38,000 participate.

"A key element in progressing development forward has been the introduction of the Coaching Disabled Footballers course. Not only does it show mainstream coaches that coaching disabled players is no different from those in mainstream football but it has seen an influx of good coaches into the disability game.

"The AFC is embarking on a number of exciting initiatives to enable disabled players across the region to become involved in football, key to the success is the identification of quality football coaches and the CDF Tutor Training course will give the confederation a network of tutors who will be able to run workshops throughout Asia and promote disability football opportunities for all".

In addition, five courses will be delivered to Referee Assessors, Instructors, Recruiters, as well as to Elite Men and Women Referees.

Thirty people are also set to benefit from a Generic Tutor Training Course, and former England International goalkeeper and FA Head of National Teams Ray Clemence will deliver a Goalkeeping Instructors Course.

In total, over 240 people from across Asia will attend one of The FA courses.