The Barbados Football Association (BFA) was founded in 1910
and celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2010.
Bridgetown,
Barbados – The Barbados Football Association
(BFA) today announced that two Barbadian youth coaches will participate in a new
initiative set to significantly strengthen football development in the region,
specifically in Barbados and nine other Caribbean countries.
The Argentine-Caribbean
Youth Football: Training of Trainers Programme is a partnership between the
Argentinian Estudiantes de La Plata Football Club (EDLP), the Caribbean Football
Union (CFU), the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF), the Argentine Fund for
International Cooperation (FO.AR), and the Organization of American States
(OAS).
It is aimed
at building the technical capabilities of Caribbean youth football coaches
through introducing innovative coaching techniques, improving coaching standards
and best practice, and is also designed to use the unifying power of football (particularly
at the level of youth coaching) to make a positive contribution towards youth empowerment
and social advancement in communities across the region.
The BFA
will be represented in the Programme by Marlon Harte, Assistant Coach of the
National Senior Men’s Team, current football coach at Combermere School, and
past Head Coach of the National Under-15 Boys Team and local youth football coach,
as well as Kerry Trotman, a current Senior Coach at Technique F.C., and recent graduate
of the International Coaching Course (ICC) Training through the Hungarian
University of Sports Sciences (HUSS) in Budapest, Hungary, through an Olympic
Solidarity (OS) Scholarship.
Both Harte
and Trotman are additionally holders of Concacaf B-License Coaching
Certifications and are currently undertaking the FIFA Coach Educators’ Development
Pathway – the international training required to become an accredited Coach
Educator.
Argentinian Technical Partners EDLP, who are known for producing world-class players and integrating sport and education, will facilitate the Training of Trainers Programme, which will be implemented in two stages:
1. Eight-weeks virtual theoretical training including coaching methodologies and sports psychology (February - March 2025); and
2. A five-day in-person intensive football clinic held at the UWI/JFF Horace Burrell Centre of Excellence in Jamaica (April 2025).
BFA President Randy Harris was in Jamaica last week in his capacity as CFU President to officially launch the Argentine-Caribbean Youth Football: Training of Trainers Programme and gave his full support to the partnership between Argentina and the Caribbean.
“Regional and international partnerships such as these
are critical to sustainable football development, and with Argentina named as the
2024 FIFA/Coca-Cola top-ranked men’s football team, we could not ask for a more
inspiring and fitting collaboration to help strengthen Caribbean football,” he
said. “And, the Programme’s impact will be two-fold. Football is a powerful
tool that cuts across genders, cultures, languages, religions, socioeconomics,
and politics, so this initiative is not only a great way to collectively raise the
standard of our regional youth coaching capacity for the next generation of
footballers to excel, but it also plays a vital role in youth empowerment,
social development, and uniting diverse communities and countries off the pitch,
through the important mentoring and guidance that youth coaches provide to our
young people, and the breadth of social inclusion that football offers; leaving
no youth behind.
The BFA wishes Marlon and Kerry all the best in
their participation in the Programme and looks forward to their continued
contribution to the youth football landscape in Barbados, and beyond.”
Other countries participating in the Argentine-Caribbean
Youth Football: Training of Trainers Programme include Antigua and Barbuda,
Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent
and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago.
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Caption 1: (left to right) CFU and BFA President Randy Harris, Argentina’s Ambassador to Jamaica Marcelo Balbi Calvo, JFF President Michael Ricketts, and Jamaican Minister of Sports Olivia Grange at the launch of the Argentine-Caribbean Youth Football: Training of Trainers Programme last week at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel (image courtesy of SportsMax).
Media
enquires:
Amy
Goulding
BFA Communications Director
+1 (246) 820 8695
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