Barbados welcomed three coaches from the popular Chelsea Football Club in England last Friday.
Robert Udberg, Oliver Woodall and David Monk, who will run the 2012 Digicel Kickstart Clinic from tomorrow to Wednesday, were given a warm welcome at Grantley Adams International Airport.
Leading the delegation was Minister of Tourism Richard Sealy. Also present were chairman of the National Sports Council, Seibert Straughn; president of the Barbados Football Association, Randy Harris; manager of sports tourism at the Barbados Tourism Authority, Gregory Armstrong; and Digicel’s commercial director Alex Tasker.
The clinic, the first of three in a three-year deal with the Chelsea Foundation, will expose the region’s rising junior stars to the highest level of coaching and training. Thirty-two aspiring junior footballers from across ten regional nations will come together to receive expert training from the Chelsea coaches at Kensington Oval.
Tasker said: “In partnership with the Barbados Tourism Authority and the Barbados Football Association, we believe we can create significant opportunities for these youngsters that not only assist with their growth as footballers, but also [with their growth] as positive contributors to the society.”
Sealy described the clinic as a win-win situation for the Under-17 youth of Barbados, Haiti, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Grenada, St Lucia, Suriname, and St Kitts and Nevis who should all benefit from the alliance.
“It will be an opportunity of a lifetime for them since they have the chance to win one of the seven scholarships that your club [Chelsea] has so graciously offered in addition to a possible stint with the club’s junior team,” he said. (KB)
