Robert Begerau, a former football trainer and psychologist from Germany, has been training young students in football at St. Joseph’s College, Jakhama, for around three weeks now.
German football trainer shares his experience at St. Joseph’s College, Jakhama
Morung Express Feature
Kohima | February 16
Sixty-six year old Robert Begerau, a former football trainer and psychologist from Germany has been training football for free to young students in St. Joseph’s College, Jakhama, for around three weeks now. This is his second time in Nagaland, and will be visiting in October again.
As part of the Senior Expert Service (SES) Association in Germany, where members are sent all over the world to train players, Robert came to know of Nagaland through Fr. Abraham, Principal of St Joseph’s College, Jakhama, who was looking for a football trainer in the college.
Robert says that Nagas are, “curious, friendly and helpful.” The current football training will soon be a part of an add-on course of the college, where students can opt for job-oriented skills such as sports, tourism studies, desk-job publishing as part of their curriculum. “If they have skills, they have more credibility,” says Fr. Abraham Lotha, who feels that Nagas should pursue professionalism and not just be satisfied with raw talent.
Part of Robert’s training is to teach the other trainers, so that they can continue teaching the students. “I want to give them the experience and knowledge to teach others,” says Robert. His main task is to teach them “moral ethics, to be fair and to play in a team.”
Apart from the thirty boys, he is also coaching eleven girls who have never played football before and finds it a challenge to make the game interesting for them. He, however, adds, “It makes sense what we do here. They like to play and they want to play for a longer period. If they are not organized, they always shoot somewhere else and not the goal. It is like educating the same way you do in college.”
Robert feels that Nagas have the interest and talent for football but lack training in “tactical principles.” “All they need is organization and discipline!” he adds. However, he feels that considering the varied seasons in the country, lack of sports facilities and infrastructures etc, it is understandable that talented players remain unrecognized and unskilled.
A retired sports teacher and Psychologist, Robert was also a former professional football player who played for the Fortuna Dusseldorf team but left at the age of 24 years because of his knee problem. He holds a diploma in Psychology, which he says is an essential part of being a trainer/ coach to help the team “get along together and bring them up when they lose.”
He started his career as an Assistant Trainer in the Bundesliga- the top professional football league in Germany. He is also a member of the Association of German Football Trainers, where he organizes training of the highest standards in Germany. Robert and his wife have three sons and two grandchildren.
