EBFA ATC scouting commence following all covid-19 guidelines and measures – Winter

Sep 01, 2021 Sports

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Set to continue today at Timehri Red Ground

By Franklin Wilson

With covid-19 still very much a part of our daily lives, innovative ways of working around the challenges are needed in order to return to some level of normalcy with the continued progress of youths, foremost in mind.

Sports across the board have been rocked but Federations and Associations are coming up with ways to get kids back to playing at some level. One such Association is the East Bank Football Association (EBFA) which, with the help of its parent body, Guyana Football Federation (GFF) has kicked off its Academy Training Centre (ATC) which the body now has full control of.
The GFF would have lamented the fact that, even though the ATC started a few years ago, the Regional Members Associations (RMA) did not respond in a manner as if they had owned same which prompted a review and the move to hand over full ownership to the RMA’s.
Thousands of dollars worth of equipment was distributed to the RMA’s to get cracking, the GFF still maintaining responsibility for payments of coaches based on approval of the respective RMA’s.
Lead EBFA ATC Coach, Devnon Winter has disclosed that they have commenced work but at the moment they are in a sensitisation mode since covid-19 is still a major challenge and they are adamant that all attending must be aware of the measures to be put in place to make the environment safe.
“We are doing lots of outreach programmes, we went to Agricola and Diamond thus far and we really did not know what to expect given the times we are in. But the turnout was fantastic and we were all excited with the response. So the outreaches will continue this week where all we do is small sided games and let the kids have fun as we observe them. Coaches are strict with the water breaks and how we sanitise before, during and after these breaks. In these early days the passion is already being felt.”
Winter shared that for the next two weeks they will continue the trend of observing and allowing players to be seen as the talent ID process continues, mainly overlooked by Coach Levi Braithwaite.

The ultimate aim he disclosed is to arrive at an elite 16 for the ATC, which players would be exposed to consistent training week in, week out.
“It will take time and we have to be careful of how we execute as well. How we do it is that we organise and plan before we even go on the field. Coaches have their respective area of responsibilities as this is total team work.
The technical and tactical areas are all well planned out and will be executed efficiently when we get going fully as we will try to get the best players exposed and trained using the philosophy of the GFF.”
One of the challenges foreseen would be grounds, Winter posited given the fact that when large numbers of kids are present, even the GFF Facility at Providence would be a challenge. However, in conjunction with the EBFA, they are pursuing other options which will result in them being able to maximise sessions having access to multiple venues.
“So far, the EBFA is responding very well in terms of support for the ATC and this is a good sign. Our aim is to have elite players from this association, who are well trained, exposed and well rounded not just on the field but off as well.
We’re working on attaining a disciplined culture for our players who must be good ambassadors because as you know, all of them would not be able to represent Guyana. I must also point out that the level of discipline that we have encountered so far from these youths is very encouraging.”
The ATC is a pathway to the Guyana National teams at every level and one of the eagerly anticipated innovations of this initiative would be the inter ATC competitions at each level (U13, 15, 17, 20) that would be organised going forward.
“This is how we would be able to measure the success of our ATC and we are looking forward to the anticipated rivalry that would take place as our counterparts get their kids going as well. We must have multiple players on the national team at all levels and this would be a good way to measure our success, granted that others would be thinking along these lines as well.”
Winter also stated that strengthening of the club structure in the EBFA would be a huge compliment to the ATC’s; this must be worked on by the Association in conjunction with the Federation.
“This is a critical area for us as we aim to be more organised, dynamic and disciplined in our approach. It must be top down and bottom up and this will lead to us all being more strengthened and successful at our level and ultimately, Guyana.
I would like to express gratitude to the GFF, TD Greenwood and all those who are responsible for this move as it would ultimately benefit Guyana and place us amongst the best in the region.”

 

 

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