Football aspirants flock TTFF clinic

OFFICIALS of the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation including technical director Lincoln Phillips got a pleasant surprise when they turned up for the first of a series of clinics at the King George V Park. Over 425 young football aspirants turned up at the park on Saturday morning for a three-hour session for seven-17 year-olds, which taught the youngsters basic skills. Among those assisting in the clinics were ex-national skippers Sedley Josep and Clayton Morris, ex-national stars Bobby Sookram, current under-20 coach Anton Corneal and his assistant Brian Williams, assistant senior national coach Ron La Forest and coach Dion La Foucade, together with many TTFF scouts. Members of the national men and women youth teams were also on hand for demonstrations to the young aspirants.

An elated Phillips said: “This is the first step to a new beginning, because I can assure you that once we keep our plans together and we continue to be serious about implementing them, based on what took place here today, future camps like this will be even bigger and better.” He continued: “What has happened here shows just how much we can do to increase the awareness of the need to develop outselves as footballers and coaches.” Phillips noted we concentrate too much on just playing tournaments and matches. He said, “everywhere you look, there’s some tournament and while that’s not a bad thing, we must also realise we need to spend more time learning more about the game and developing out skills on the picth.” Coaches from the nearby Harvard club also assisted in the exercise on Saturday, while lending valuable support were a number of business firms including Petrotrin, Blue Waters, Home Construction, National Flour Mills, Ceramic Trinidad Limited, Solid Waste Management, Hy Lyte Sport Drinks, IPS International Khan’s Liquor Mart and PoS City Council.