Women’s football the focus at Macoya

WOMEN’S football coaches from the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) have benefiting from a wealth of knowledge being shared at the first FIFA FUTURO III Coaching Course at the Dr Joao Havelange Centre of Excellence, Tunapuna. Keith Look Loy, FIFA’s Development Officer for the region, and FIFA representative Tatjana Haenni spoke at the official course opening last Wednesday. Francis Hilton-Smith of South Africa and Hope Powell of England are the instructors.

The course that concludes on Friday has attracted 17 participants from eight national football associations —  Anguilla, Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, Dominica, Guyana, St Kitts/Nevis, the United States Virgin Islands and hosts Trinidad and Tobago. The syllabus addresses all important aspects of the game, including psychological and physical preparation, technical and tactical training, systems of play, match analysis, nutrition and injury assessment, and the role of the coach. Importantly, there will be practical assessments of each participant and, at the end of the course, the participating national associations are required to submit a six month work plan that indicates the manner in which the new instructors will be integrated into its coaching and women’s football development programmes.

The FIFA development office for the Caribbean is charged with monitoring the implementation of the plans. Other participants include Colin Johnson (Anguilla); Jeremy Salaam, Wendell Furbert, Chevonne Furbert (Bermuda); Ben Davis, Peterson Azille (British Virgin Islands); Erickson Christopher, Augustus Griffith, Justin Nibbs (Dominica); Samantha Beaton (Guyana); Gloria Bertie, Ryan Willard, Andy Blanchette (St Kitts/Nevis); Yohannes Worede (US Virgin Islands).