In 2011, National Junior Basketball Team Head Coach Matthew Smiling received a coaching scholarship to attend the International Coaching Enrichment Certificate Program (ICECP) conducted by the US Olympic Committee in the United States. A major component of this program is for Coach Smiling to develop a project that will benefit basketball in Belize. Coach Smiling’s project is the development of a Coaching Education Program for Elementary, High School and Grassroots Basketball in Belize.
On Wednesday, April 18, Coach Smiling and the President of the Belize Basketball Federation, Paul Thompson, met with Minister Patrick Faber to discuss the project and to seek the Ministry of Education’s support for this program to be implemented in elementary schools across the country. The Minister gave his support for the program and will organize subsequent meetings with the relevant personnel within the Ministry.
In the coming week, Coach Smiling will travel to Switzerland to make a final presentation of his project to a panel of experts.