Youth development a priority in 2020 for GFF

…Forde hoping to roll out U13 and school tournaments
By Jemima Holmes
For the year 2020, one priority on the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) agenda is youth development— with the intention to introduce a new tournament for younger players. With three youth teams gearing up for CONCACAF Championships, and a number of plans to enhance the youth structure by adding club and school tournaments, the GFF is focused on using their younger talents as prospects for future international engagements, such as the FIFA World Cup, which they hope to qualify for by 2026.

“I think it’s clear to everyone now that the trust of my administration has always been youth development. We’ve introduced three news tournaments from the spread of Guyana football competition from a national standpoint.”
Those were the sentiments expressed by GFF President Wayne Forde when questioned about the importance of youth development to the Football Federation.
Speaking exclusively with Guyana Times Sport, the GFF Boss explained, with great detail, how his administration is using youth development in the sport as a tool to better Guyanese football at the senior and international level. Thus far, the GFF has rolled out three age-group tournaments, namely the Frank Watson Alumni U15, NAMILCO U17 and KFC U20, which feeds the ATC structure. He even disclosed the Federation’s intentions to add another tournament to the roster.
“Those are four crucial competitions and those competitions complement the Academy Training Centre (ATC). The model has been launched, we’re still tweaking it because implementing a project is much more difficult than conceptualising a project. So the U15, U17, U20 at this moment is feeding the Academy Training Centre (ATC) programme; we’re hopeful that before we get out of the second quarter of 2020, we have a solid and stable U13 competition launched,” the GFF President noted.

Alluding to the excellence that Fruta Conquerors have exuded over the past few months, winning senior competitions such as the Limacol and Turbo tournaments, Forde explained that the youth team’s dominance is a testament to the extensive work that is being done at their level. In the same breath, the GFF boss went on to disclose why it is important to implement programmes at the youth level.
“So it’s not to my surprise and to most folks who have been paying keen attention to what we’ve been trying to do, that the success of the Fruta Conquerors U20 team against some of the Association teams would have been what it was. We, as a nation, we have to introduce football development programmes that don’t only give us incremental success but we can consistently produce players who go on to not only represent Guyana at the highest level but also, in time to come, can access international opportunities. Youth development is fundamental to our football development programme,” Forde shared.
While member associations are tasked with running off tournaments within their jurisdiction, Forde revealed that these major competitions which directly contribute to youth development are solely undertaken by the Federation.
Moving away from the club and association structure, the GFF is looking to tackle development in the school realm.
“Of course, we take on all the load of youth development tournaments, U15, U17, U20, and very soon U13. We’re also working on a comprehensive schools football programme that goes from primary all the way up to secondary, boys and girls. I’m very confident that we will get that done in 2020. They’re partnerships being worked out for that,” Forde revealed.
Currently, the GFF has three youth teams in training, who are preparing to compete at the CONCACAF level. When probed about the financial burden of having the boys and girls U20 and girls U17 teams in continuous training, Forde noted that while it is strenuous, it is important to give the youngsters international exposure, especially when they are performing remarkably.
“We want to give our youth teams, in particular, as much exposure as possible but it comes at a huge cost. Our youth teams have been performing better and better. So while the initial challenge is getting them to one stage of the tournament, when they qualify, you again have to engage in further preparation and further travel, so it’s always a challenge.”