A specialised football facility with accompanying amenities is the goal of the Barbados Football Association (BFA), according to president Randy Harris.
Harris, who is serving his third term at the helm of the BFA, said success for him at this point would be the installation of a “proper” football facility.
“Success would be to satisfy my dream which I had for over 40 years which is to see the Barbados Football Association have its own facility that it can take care of and is fully operational. When it is completed, it will have its own dormitories up here as well. That has been a dream, to see our football have a proper pitch and proper amenities.”
He was keen to stress that on field exploits were equally as important, stating that the long term goal has to be upgrading the Barbados national team to the point where it can potentially qualify for world tournaments.
Key to achieving this, in his opinion, is the next generation of local players getting exposure to a football education earlier in their development.
“We have talented players, but understanding the game while playing together is kind of difficult,” he said. “If we can inculcate the way football is to be played from a younger age I think we will see the benefit of it.”
When asked if that would mean higher quality coaches installed at youth levels, Harris likened the situation to a primary school student being taught by a janitor.
“We recently had two coaching courses, one for the ladies and one in conjunction with the National Sports Council (NSC) for the community coaches. The BFA understands coaching education is very important. We still have two coaches in Trinidad and Tobago doing the A-license course as well as four coaching educators trained by CONCACAF who conducted the courses for the ladies and community coaches. We want trained people to do the right things.”
Barbados coaches Renaldo Gilkes and Mario Harte were recently selected by the BFA to take part in the ongoing Trinidad and Tobago Football Association (TTFA) Regional A Licence Coaching Course at the University of Trinidad and Tobago Campus and the Ato Bolton Stadium.
National Technical Director Emmerson Boyce said one of the BFA’s goals for last year was to get more local coaches qualified.
Speaking at the announcement of the coaches heading to Trinidad, Boyce said: “It is fantastic that Mario and Renaldo are now pursuing their “A” licence. Both of these coaches are well known in Barbados and have good reputations and along with head of coaching education Kent Hall, we thought these two candidates were the best ones to go forward for the licence.”
The Premier League and Women’s League as well as Divisions 1, 2 and 3 will all resume in earnest later this month. (JC)