The Guyana Football Federation (GFF) has shown great interest in hosting a Primary Schools Football Programme and that interest was communicated to the Minister of Education, Hon. Nicolette Henry in her Brickdam office on Friday (June 8).
Representing the GFF during that engagement was the entity’s President Wayne Forde, Technical Director Ian Greenwood and Youth Development Officer Brian Joseph.
Giving an overview of the Programme was Greenwood, who said that the it will support football development in Guyana at all levels starting from grassroots all the way up to the senior level.
He said that implementing the programme will result in the increase of player population in the sport and improve the quality of youth coaching. According to Greenwood, within the vision of the programme is to propel youth development and to increase the population of persons, male and female, involved in the game countrywide.
Greenwood said that the programme aims to produce players that have the ability to play at a high tempo, can deal with the stress of playing to win, have athletic potential, have an efficient based passing game, have a balanced view of success and failure and possess excellent technical ability.
The programme will involve a pre-season programme which will entail staff training and a regional competition and finals. The GFF will also assist in providing both material support to the schools as it relates to gears and coaching education to teachers.
Following the presentation, Minister Henry thanked the GFF for approaching the Ministry with the initiative and said that the programme aligns with the policy of the Ministry.
She said that it has been the policy of government to have Physical Education be a core curriculum subject since 2015. Minister Henry said that the Ministry of Education is willing to provide any support that is necessary to ensure the programme is executed successfully.
The education Minister committed to engaging the relevant officers within the Ministry of Education to start the process so that the GFF’s programme can be accommodated and executed with the requisite level of support.
