“The Academy is the main pillar of development,” says VP Lambert

…as the EBFA gears up for ATC programme

The Guyana Football Federation (GFF) last week handed over the reins of the Academy Training Center (ATC) programme to their nine Regional Member Associations (RMAs), and with it went a host of equipment for their use.

As the RMAs move to take up their new role, the East Bank Football Association has already figured it out, according to Vice President Clayton Lambert Snr, the East Bank Football Association has a lot of ground to cover in taking charge of the entire corridor in order to rally all the clubs within their scope. However, he said, the Academy Training Center and its resources are key to their development.
In an interview with this publication, Lambert explained that the GFF’s donation would assist them in going into far-reaching areas and discovering new talents.
“Well, this donation will help us to continue to rise. It will help us to broaden the programmes we have, because, as I will tell you, the East Bank Association starts at Houston and goes all the way up to Yarrowkabra, Kuru Kuru area on the highway. So, this equipment will go a long way with those areas, discovering new talent, bringing them to the central point, or even carrying on tournaments in those areas,” Lambert Snr commented.
He added, “So it’s going a great way towards that.”
In explaining why he thinks the ‘Academy is the main pillar of football development’, Lambert shared that the EBFA would be utilising the services of the ATC coaches in order to boost development at their clubs.
“The Academy has a specific programme that we’re going to work out, especially at weekends, starting in the mornings right through the whole day. We have different age groups, and we’ll carry them through their drills and then they have what you call an intra-Academy competition to look forward to,” he explained.
“Not only practice, they have games to look forward to, and the Academy is the main pillar of development,” Lambert explained.

He said, “Also, the association plans to give assistance to the various clubs in terms of the Academy’s coaches going out and doing workshops with the clubs and helping them to develop, because the stronger the club is, the stronger the Association is, the stronger Guyana is.”
When probed about their plans for the restart of football in Guyana, Lambert disclosed that the EBFA will be ready at the sound of the whistle.
He answered, “Well, first of all, I would say we need to get them right now in some physical programmes, of course observing COVID-19, but they have been down for a long time. They keep coming at us, asking when is football. They look at the TV and see that football is being played and wonder why we can’t play in Guyana.
“So we advise them to just keep fit, keep doing your individual exercises, drills, and then just wait for us, because we are waiting to start as soon as the GFF says ‘GO’.”
The GFF is said to be investing $18 million in staffing and $12 million in equipment for its ATC programme each year. (Jemima Holmes)