Chief coach certification in two months for Rangamar

Northern Marianas Athletics coaches’ director Elias Rangamar has two months to comply with requirements set by the IAAF before receiving his certification as chief coach.

In an interview yesterday, Rangamar said all participants of the IAAF Chief Coach Course were instructed to develop a strategic plan in terms of developing athletes, coaches, and the respective federation.

Rangamar said his first task is to present his plan to the NMA board, get input from the members, modify the plan if necessary, and submit it to the Chief Coaches Academy.

“I must do that before I get my certification and I got two months to do so,” he said.

Rangamar was one of 12 coaches from Oceania to take part in the invitation-only course in Brisbane, Australia the first two weeks of the year.

“This year is termed as the year of coaches, so IAAF is trying to develop pathways for coaches to move forward,” he said. It deals a lot with marketing the sport, managing the federation and athletes, and they want us to present the long-term development plan for athletes to schools and the government. We’re looking to include athletics in the curriculum for [Physical Education] in primary schools.”

“This is a long term thing, so we’re talking about developing athletes and the program not for this coming Micronesian Games, but the next one in 2010 and on from there,” Rangamar added.

Meanwhile, Rangamar said another one of his tasks as chief coach is to serve as mentor to the coaches.

“Now I have the structure on how to achieve a lot of things for the sport to grow and the athletes to become elite athletes,” he said. “[At the course] we tried to work on how we’re going to accomplish the different goals dealing with the government, businesses, and sports science.”

Rangamar said the first part of the course dealt with a lot of psychology. “It’s basically deals with taking the lead role and managing people, and the process to do it to get the best out of the people you work with.”

With all their newly acquired knowledge, Rangamar said the next goal for Oceania is to develop athletes into possibly qualifying for the 2012 Olympics.

“For countries that can compete in the Olympics, our goal is to have the athletes qualify for the B Standard,” he said. “The A standard are world-class athletes, but it will be a major step if our athletes [Oceania] can qualify for the Olympics, because now, countries are given one automatic entry, and it will be a big improvement if we don’t go in through that slot and instead through qualifying.”

Rangamar reiterated that for that to be possible, a plan must be set and federations must be able to adapt as time changes.

“You need to be able to adapt, and you can have a long-term plan…not something for four years…and assess the plan yearly and make changes if necessary,” he said. “it’s a challenge but the course provided me with the resources to work with the board to accomplish our goals.”

The course began last Jan. 4 and concluded on Jan. 18.

The focus of the course is to develop skills and abilities in the areas of the coaching process, people leadership, and process management, as well as the practical aspects of preparing and managing national programs and national teams.

Rangamar has been coaching in athletics since 1993. He has accompanied NMI athletics participants to countless regional and international competitions such as the Micronesian Games, South Pacific Games, World Championships, and the Oceania Open and 18-and-under Championships, among others.