JFF turns focus on women's football, with FIFA's help

Saturday, September 17, 2011

SIX leading practitioners from FIFA in the field of the development of women's football will be in the island to lead a FIFA Women's Football Seminar to be held at the Courtleigh Auditorium between next Monday and Thursday.

The main instructors will be Carolina Morace (Italy); Amanda Vandervort (USA) and Chris Collie (Canada). The other representatives of FIFA who will be here for the course are Gregory Engelbrecht, FIFA Development Manager for the Americas: Mayrilian Cruz Blanco, Women's Football Development Manager FIFA, and Daryll Warner, Development Officer for the Caribbean.

The JFF has indicated to FIFA that the main objectives it seeks to achieve for women's football over the immediate future are: Getting more girls and women exposed to and playing football across the length and breadth of the island; Raising awareness of the sport, its growth internationally and its real and potential impact on lives; Getting more women involved in the technical aspect of the sport (coaching, administration and refereeing); Building sponsorship support for the sport.

Some of the interesting areas that FIFA has identified for the seminar include: Assisting the JFF with its women's football technical development; Showing the relationship between technical excellence and the promotion of and investment into the women's game; Health and football: Showing the advantages for girls who play football; Women's football leagues and the advantages of integrating women's teams into existing men's clubs; The role of the media in women's football and creating a positive image of the women's game.

The opening ceremony will be held next Monday at 9:30 am at the Courtleigh Auditorium. It will be addressed by President of the JFF, Captain Horace Burrell; and Carolina Morace, former national team player from Italy, international women's football coach, FIFA Women's football Ambassador and FIFA Women's Football technical instructor.

The staging of the seminar represents yet another element in the JFF's determined effort to improve the technical and administrative competence of all components of the sport. This in addition to the coaching programme; the recently launched grassroots programme and the improvement in the administrative support to all national teams.