Fourteen female footballers from the Albena Lake-Hodge Comprehensive School are training for their participation in the first annual Caribbean College Football Showcase to be held in Barbados from February 20 - 26. The competition is being organised by the Harvard Sports Management Group of the United States and Sporting Zones of Barbados.

Coaching sessions in progress at the Ronald Webster Park Annex

A release from the Anguilla Football Association states that the final team to represent the island will be selected from the training squad.

The team will be headed by the National Women’s Coach, Colin Johnson. “My role is to get these ladies mentally and physically fit,” he was quoted as saying. “This opportunity will come once for some of them and so I have to ensure that they have the necessary preparation to do their best in Barbados.”

President of the Anguilla Football Association, Raymond Guishard, said that one of its objectives was “to open doors of opportunity to all who wish to walk through them.” He described the upcoming football showcase as “just one of the tangible evidences of the Association’s commitment to facilitate the development of football and footballers in Anguilla regardless of gender.”

Coaching sessions in progress at the Ronald Webster Park Annex

In his letter of invitation to Anguilla, Ricky Clarke, Managing Director of Sports Zone, commented: “I cannot emphasise [more] how important this is for potential student athletes …looking for key information regarding …procedures for financing their education.”

The upcoming event will include a recruiting symposium on February 23 in Barbados; a power point presentation with the assistance of NCAA football coaches from Florida State University, Boston College, Boston University and the University of Georgia. The culminating activity will be a women’s competition among the teams participating in the showcase. This will be a recruiting effort to get student athletes to the United States for admission into university baccalaureate programmes.

The Caribbean College Football Showcase will feature some 13 American NCAA coaches whose plans are to use the five-day event to observe the competition and engage in the recruitment of female footballers into their colleges and universities.

Coaching sessions in progress at the Ronald Webster Park Annex

The Anguilla Football Association is seeking the support of all parents in making this opportunity a reality for the female footballers on the island. The girls who are being coached on Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays, are due to travel to Barbados on February 18.

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