GFF's Youth Development Officer Bryan Joseph presents equipment to Willon Cameron, Physical Education Teacher of President's College
The Guyana Football Federation (GFF) on Wednesday presented football equipment to President’s College, geared towards the development of a football programme within the school.
This presentation was made to the Physical Education Teacher, Willon Cameron, by Bryan Joseph, GFF’s Youth Development Officer (YDO). The package consisted of seven footballs, 16 bibs and 20 flat markers and was made to the project facilitated by the school’s Alumni.
In presenting the items, Joseph expressed delight for the partnership with the President’s College Alumni: “The Technical Department of the GFF is very happy to partner with President’s College Alumni. We’re excited because a school has actually come forward and asked for support. Our system is set up in such a way that we have the expertise to provide support to schools and organizations so we’re happy that the alumni has come forward.”
Cameron said the school was eager for the partnership: “This is a very excellent project which, by extension, will assist the country’s football programme overall. So to have the Federation onboard really gives me great excitement to know that we have the support coming all the way from the top and I guarantee you that President’s College Football Club will take another step to a higher level with all the support we have.”
Jafar Gibbons, member of the Alumni with responsibility for sport, said the alumni is focusing on sport development in the school in a systematic way: “What I’ve realised, there’s a vast number of kids in the school that come from the hinterland – a lot of them on scholarship – and they have to endure five to seven years of no football because it’s a sixth-form school. Oftentimes, they’re from an area where it’s predominantly football so to not have the sport you love in the school, it really hinders the amount of joy you can have at the school.”
In wrapping up Joseph said that the GFF is interested in building capacity for long-term football development: “We hope this donation will start a partnership between President’s College and the GFF. There is much more that we have to offer; we have coaching expertise, we have the equipment, we have programmes and those are available to the school. Obviously, we’ll like to see more schools coming forward and making requests to partner with the GFF.”
He continued, “There’s a heavy focus at the Federation on youth development and what better place to have that development than in schools. We’ve heard for years about the education system not focusing on co-curricular activities, which include sport and this setup by the President’s College Alumni is a step in the right direction and, like I said earlier, I hope that more schools will actually tap into the resources that are available at the Football Federation.”
The alumni, which is headed by Damien Sears, is scheduled to begin the project on September 24 at the Golden Grove Community Centre Ground at 09:30h. The alumni has earmarked three coaches who will provide the technical guidance to the students – Gordon Braithwaite, Trevor Burnett and Sheron Abrams.
Other persons who were in attendance at the presentation were Yonette Chichester – Deputy Principal; Monique Singh – Alumni Member; students, Ceon Bristol – GFF’s School’s Development Officer and Debra Francis – GFF’s Communications and Public Relations Officer.
