Warner praises FIFA women course

CONCACAF president and FIFA vice-president Jack Austin Warner, while heaping praises on FIFA over the staging of the first FUTURO III Coaching Course for Women’s Football, told participants “let this course be a catalyst for a change in women’s football.” The administrative livewire was speaking at the closing ceremony of the two-week long course at the Dr Joao Havelange Centre of Excellence, Tunapuna, recently. Encouraged by what he saw as the growth of the sport, Warner stated: “The time has come where we have to see what’s in it for women.” But, on a disappointing note, he admitted that he “would have preferred to see more female instructors at the course.” Only four out of the 17 participants were women, national assistant team coach Izler Browne, Chevonne Furbert (Bermuda), Samantha Beaton (Guyana) and Gloria Bertie (St Kitts/Nevis). Warner encouraged the participants to pass on their knowledge to their respective footballing federations, Anguilla, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Dominica, Guyana, St Kitts/Nevis, US Virgin Islands and Trinidad and Tobago.

The CONCACAF boss went even further to ask CONCACAF Director of Development Richard Brathwaite and FIFA Development Officer Keith Look Loy to develop a database to keep track of the work done by the respective coaches. FIFA representative Tatjana Haenni from Finland, as well as instructors Mary Smith of South Africa and Hope Powell of England conducted the ten-day programme. According to Powell, a former English player, “it was very good.” “The participants were very enthusiastic; they worked really hard. All in all, it was a successful course.” Asked whether coaches would be mandated to offer knowledge gathered at the course to their federations, Powell said, “They’ll take some of the ideas here and implement some of them in their (coaches) federations and make them raise the standards of their game.” Powell noted her willingness  to return to Trinidad to conduct similar courses under the aegis of CONCACAF.