Beyond English, football & Coaching

“I dreamt of becoming David Beckham,” said 30-year-old Samuel Siew, sharing about his childhood ambition. Siew is one of five coach educators in Malaysia who trained under the Premier Skills programme run by the British Council.

Like many other football fans, Siew dreamed of playing for one of the popular football clubs, Manchester United. You could say his dream came true, although slightly altered.
In 2009, the Kota Baru-born was selected to participate in the Premier Skills programme, a partnership between the Premier League and the British Council, which uses football as a tool to develop brighter futures for the young around the world.
It draws upon the Premier League’s global appeal and expertise in delivering community programmes in the United Kingdom, alongside British Council’s global network and track record of delivering world class English programmes.
Instead of becoming a player, Samuel became a Level 1 Premier Skills Coach Educator. And although he has yet to meet Beckham but he had the opportunity to engage with his other favourite football player Sami Hyypia.
In 2014, Samuel also got the chance to visit England when he was selected to participate in the English FA International Course at St George’s Park where he later graduated as an English FA International Coach.
To date, Samuel has coached people from all walks of life, some of whom are university students, high school students, corporate members, urban and rural communities in Malaysia, including children from the orang asli community in Pos Tenau, Perak.
Together with Samuel are four others, namely Patrick Loo, Kelvin Chee, Hee Chun Keet and Dawinder Singh Randhawa, all coach educators with Level 1 certification under the Premier Skills programme.
Through the programme, young people, including the most vulnerable in society, have been given opportunities to better integrate into their local communities.
The programme is also structured to help develop skills for employability and raise self esteem.
Recently, the Premier Skills project celebrated its 10th year running. An event was held at Menara Hap Seng in KL celebrating the rise of over 200 community coaches spawned by the five coach educators.
The event celebrated the achievements throughout the decade and the five coach educators who are central to the sustainability of the programme as they are
accredited to deliver the “Premier Skills: Introduction to Community Coaching” devised to train new coaches.
Further development of the programme saw the establishment of the “Premier Skills Legacy” programme, which was initiated in 2016, and focuses on an overarching theme of inclusivity, taking in women, girls, as well as persons with disabilities into the programme.
Since Premier Skills began in 2007, the programme has generated some 20,027 coaches and referees from across 29 countries, who in turn have reached out to some 1.6 million young people.
In all, it’s more than just football, a programme to learn from or churning out coaches.