NOT ONLY FOOTBALLERS are set to benefit from the presence in the island of coaches from English Premier League team Chelsea FC.
After hosting a week-long clinic, which facilitated players from around the region, Central America and the United States, Chelsea FC coaches have now turned their attention to improving the standard of coaching in Barbados.
In collaboration with the Barbados Football Association and the Barbados Tourism Authority (BTA), Chelsea FC will be hosting a Coaching Development Camp, which will give 12 Barbadian coaches the chance to engage in coaching sessions with some top international coaches.
Ricardo Williams, Bernard Howell, Marcellus Babb and Ytannia Wiggins are among the dozen trainers hand-picked by the Chelsea FC coaches.
During a Press conference at Kensington Oval yesterday, international football development officer of Chelsea FC, David Monk, explained that the four-day clinic, which kicked off on Tuesday, represented phase two of the club’s developmental programme.
Phase three is set to begin in Easter of 2013, with phase four continuing in the summer.
“This partnership with the BTA is to develop football at the grassroots here in Barbados,” Monk explained.
“We see Barbados as the footballing hub in the Caribbean, and this gives us an opportunity to help the organization of the sport on the island and support them, so that we can ensure that the future of Bajan football is in safe hands,”
One of the coaches who will be facilitating the course, Robert Udberg, pointed out that Barbados would ultimately reap the benefits of the clinic.
He said that unlike players, coaches had the ability to impart their knowledge on a much larger scale.
“In trying to improve football in any country around the world, you start by educating the coaches.
“Once you educate the coaches, then obviously the players that they work with and the players that are in their care hopefully will benefit from their expertise.
“We can only come here and affect a certain number of children on the island. However, if we can work with 12 or 24 coaches or even more, that in turn can impact all of the players,” he noted.
