GUYANA men’s senior football coach Jamaal Shabazz broke new ground by completing a course in strategic communications at UEFA (European Football Academy) Academy in Geneva, Switzerland recently.
Shabazz was the only football coach among a group of communications experts from UEFA. The UEFA strategic communications compact course ran from January 24 to 27 and was attended by the heads of media and communications for countries including France, Italy, Greece, Spain, Kazakhstan, Macedonia, Wales, Norway, Finland and Turkey among others.
Shabazz, who is Trinidadian, viewed his attendance as a personal investment in his career.
"It’s important to equip myself with additional competencies since a lot of our work in modern football involves communication and human resource management,” said Shabazz.
"UEFA is the most advanced confederation in FIFA and this experience has sharpened my insight for an adjusted approach in terms of communications.”
Some of the topics delivered at the course included evidence-oriented communications, quantifying the impact and benefits of public relations in the modern world, content strategy and campaigns, political advocacy and introduction to issues management and crisis communications.
"When we look at the impact UEFA Champions League has on our psyche in the Caribbean it reflects a clear communications strategy that has worked and influenced the world.
"The ambitions we have for (the) 2026 (World Cup) demands a competence greater than coaching. We have to mobilise a country and get different stakeholders working towards one objective,” Shabazz said.
Shabazz mentioned a need for federations in the Caribbean to recruit young people and invest in the future.
"There is a techno-savvy youngster born after 2000 that we not utilising at all. They can reach the masses faster than a press conference with just a touch of their phone. We need to recruit them because they understand communicating in the here and now.”
After leaving Switzerland, Shabazz spent ten days in England observing overseas-based players with Guyanese roots.
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