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Klass outlines plans for this year (Part Two)

Feb 20, 2009 Sports

By Rawle Welch
Even though Guyana will not be participating in the Women’s World Cup qualifiers this year, President of the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) Colin Klass said that emphasis will still be placed on the development of females in the sport.
Klass, whose performance over the past few years has been questioned extensively by football enthusiasts, last Tuesday, during an exchange with some members of the media pointed to the lack of football activity among the weaker sex in Georgetown and the logistical difficulties involved in bringing teams from far flung areas as heading the list of obstacles that have prevented the preparations for Guyana’s entry into the qualifying rounds for the tournament.
He revealed that with the assistance of an associate in the USA, they’ve been able to enlist a number of players from colleges with Guyanese roots to form a team that can represent Guyana in the future.
According to Klass, the girls did indicate that due to the short notice, they were more inclined to engage in a few friendly encounters before risking participating in such a tough competition.
The GFF President disclosed that the season will start off with 5-a-side competitions at various locations across the country.
He informed that there are at least two teams on the West Demerara and they’ve begun practice sessions in preparation for any upcoming engagement.
“What we’ve recognised is that even though we have these plans to decentralise the game, too much emphasis was being placed in Georgetown, but the women in the City are not playing the game in large numbers.”
He added that women’s football is played a lot in places such as Linden, Berbice and Lethem and the aim of the GFF is to expose what it is doing in those areas.
Beach Football-
We’ve just gotten permission to initiate this and our first such activity in this regard will be done in Linden, hopefully, during the Linden Town Week.
We are looking at other locations as well with the Bartica Regatta among our next target because we feel that once the public see this brand of football, they will love it.
“It is fast, exciting and usually plenty goals are scored and what it does also is level the gap in skills.
Beach soccer just like FUTSAL can get a country to the World Cup faster that the more traditional style.
Doping and Betting-
These are areas that we will have to educate our players in. They will have to be taught the disadvantages of getting involved and the likely consequences of being caught.
Our plan is to intensify our outreach programmes to the various associations who will then take on the responsibility of informing the affiliated clubs.
However, the onus is on us to get the information out to participants in the sport.
Players’ Education-
I know that this subject is not only common in football, but has extended itself to many other disciplines as well.
It is an extremely worrying development and one has to be extremely tolerant and patient when dealing with certain players.
It is indeed painstaking to always have to repeat what you are doing with some players and this is a huge barrier that coaches have to deal with.
Education is a key ingredient and when players do not have the aptitude to grasp what is being taught, it becomes more difficult to develop game plans etc.
The education of players, however, should not be a GFF project alone, but must also have the full backing of other agencies as well.
Gregory ‘Jackie Chan’ Richardson-
His recent tryout with Toronto FC is an encouraging development for Guyana’s soccer and should he be successful which I think he will, it can have a positive effect on other aspiring players in the future.
We’ve already signalled to him that he has our full support and we stand ready to guide and assist him.

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