Guyana launches FIFA F4S programme

…Coaches/teachers to be rewarded

Story and Photos by Jemima Holmes

The climate of grassroots football in Guyana is about to witness a paradigm shift, in that not only would children be able play the sport they love at the Academy Training Centre (ATC) level, but the sport would also be provided in schools, ensuring that football would be present wherever they go.

This is the reality that the FIFA Football for Schools (F4S) Programme offers students aged 4-14 within Guyana’s education system now that the initiative had been officially launched and a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed between FIFA, the Guyana Football Federation (GFF), and the Ministries of Education and Sport.

Representing the aforementioned entities were: FIFA Project Manager Alexandre Gros, Education Minister Priya Manickchand, Sport Minister Charles Ramson Jr., and GFF President Wayne Forde, whose signatures solidified a developmental project and signalled the culmination of months of collaborative work.
As such, Project Leader Gros praised the Government entities for their involvement, citing the need for a positive relationship between football and governance.

“Today I want to particularly recognise and emphasise the excellent cooperation from the Ministry of Education, represented by Honourable Priya Manickchand. Thank you, madam, and thank you for making these wonderful teachers available to us over the past few days. You guys have been fantastic.
“And special thanks also to the Honourable Charles Ramson, for his support to sports in general and football in particular. This means a lot to us in the football community,” he related to the gathering, which was made up of students and the newly-trained coaches.

About FIFA’s intentions, Gros explained, “For FIFA, its President, Gianni Infantino, the FIFA Foundation and its CEO, Yuri Dkorkaeoff, we here today from FIFA firmly believe that by embracing football for schools, you will see the exceptional power that football has to bring together a multicultural, multi-ethnic, multi-faced nation such as Guyana. The long-term benefits of such a programme, if applied at full capacity, will be felt for years in terms of public health, both physical and mental.”
Echoing similar sentiments to that made by Education Specialist Olato Sam earlier this week, Education Minister Priya Manickchand highlighted the developmental aspects of the F4S programme, which she figures would do well to create ‘rounded’ Guyanese students.
Manickchand said, “The central focus here, however, is not on creating the next cadre of elite football players, although we do have our eyes set on 2026. This programme goes well beyond that, and uses football as the medium for exposing our pupils to a range of vital life skills and competencies that transcend what they do on the field.
“What is admirable is that it provides an array of developmental activities that concurrently build our children’s psychosocial and social emotional capacity. I’ve had a look, a detailed look, at the content of the life skills curriculum, and I am convinced that it will meet expectations in relation to fostering the positive behaviours that will enable our pupils to effectively deal with the demands and challenges of everyday life,” She concluded.
Sport Minister Charles Ramson Jr. opted to use the brilliance of Lady Jags Forward Analisa Vincent as a shining example of what such a programme can achieve for Guyana.
“I saw a phenomenal player scampering, hunting down every single ball that she could in the most aggressive way possible. I think she can outdo some of the guys on the team,” Ramson narrated.
He continued, “And I knew that it is because of programmes that we can create, like this, that you can create many versions of Annalisa, and that is what this FIFA Football for Schools programme has the potential to do.
“So, this is a huge achievement for the country. It is something that I am particularly proud of, and that when I look back at my tenure four years from now, this will be one of the moments that I identify as being seminal, that I will remember as one of the huge achievements on behalf of the people of the country, and young people behind me and all across this country,” the Sport Minister stated.
As GFF President Wayne Forde thanked the aforementioned persons for their involvement, he predicted the transformative capabilities of the programme. Forde highlighted, “We believe F4S will act as a catalyst to create a brighter future for football and for all of our communities. We are all stakeholders in this process, in this mission, and I would therefore like to call on our teachers who are now certified master trainers to summon the determination to spread the knowledge you have acquired over the past three days.”
He went on to revealed plans of rewarding the teachers who have undertaken the coaching opportunity, another collaborative effort between the Federation and Government Ministries.
“I would like to announce that the GFF, in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport and the Ministry of Education, will be rewarding the teachers that meet the expected targets as we roll out the programme with the opportunity to acquire CONCACAF coaching licence, starting with the CONCACAF D licence.
“It is our goal to have at least one CONCACAF C-licensed coach in each school across the nation over the next two years,” The GFF boss disclosed.
Also in attendance at Wednesday morning’s signing were Dr. Douglas Slater of Caricom and Caribbean Football Union’s Camara David, who congratulated Guyana’s stakeholders on their achievement. The F4S programme is expected to be rolled out in nursery, primary and secondary schools across Guyana.