When the Student Becomes the Teacher

As part of Coaches Across Continents’ (CAC) Global COVID-19 response efforts, Community Impact Coaches (CIC’s) worldwide led training programs using CAC’s purposeful play curriculum, COVID awareness resources and mental health education.  CAC is a US registered nonprofit which partners with community organizations in more than 100 countries.

These partnerships consist of year-round comprehensive organizational development and sport for social impact education.  CAC has been one of FundLife’s long-term partners and our very own Football for Life Academy and Girls Got This coach Patrina Kaye N. Caceres who has worked alongside CAC since 2014, domestically and internationally, as one of its Philippine Community Impact Coaches was handpicked by CAC to receive funding and to lead two two-day on field training programs in Tacloban City.  

As Coach Patty puts it: “it’s a very different feeling to actually lead the programs as compared to assisting as a Community Impact Coach because I had to step up my facilitating game. I had to be more confident with my voice and had to assess what can be done better after every training day. But with the help of my two chosen CIC’s from FundLife, coaches Da and Pao, I believe we were able to handle the sessions very well. We banked on each other’s strengths to ensure that the individual weaknesses we had, will not hinder the success of the two programs.”
On November 29 and 30, the first training program started. Here the main focus was to educate FundLife coaches.

One of the aspiring coaches, Daniel, shared his insights about the training: “I learned a lot from the CAC training, not just about coaching football but also about different social issues. I found it amazing that CAC’s curriculum had drills and other games to raise awareness about social issues. I am sure our players will have fun during the sessions if we use the games we learned, because the other coaches and I had so much fun. There was not a moment when we were not laughing or smiling during the two-day training program. I became more confident as a coach and I am really thankful that I got to experience such an out of the box coaching education.”       

The second training program took place on December 17 and 18. It was open to all and was participated by some coaches, players, teachers, community leaders and representatives from the Department of Education as well as our FundLife staff.  One of the participants, Teacher Lily, who was Coach Patty’s first grade teacher, and is now a principal at an elementary school in Tacloban City, shares her thoughts about the CAC training session: “the session was a fun one and it feels good to learn new tricks in educating and coaching from your pupil.”    The two training programs were also part of YOUnified, the Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative (YSEALI) anniversary youth-led activities for the Philippines this year. FundLife and CAC ensured the training programs had followed IATF and local health protocols. Through the training programs, Coaches Across Continents delivered its promise of mentoring and empowering communities through the organizations they partner with.

​Words by Patrina Caceres (Coach Patty)​

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