THE Secondary Schools Football League (SSFL), in conjunction with sponsors BG T&T, recently ended a three-day programme aimed at the development of young footballers at Carapichaima Senior Comprehensive in Freeport.
The three-day training programme, which took place between December 16-18, was lead by Stuart John Hall of the English FA. Hall was invited to Trinidad by the SSFL for preliminary talks on setting up Centres of Excellence for the "Players Development Programme", which is a follow up to the most recent event, which carried the theme "Developing Excellence".
The training programme for 36 coaches and 24 young footballers was co-ordinated by SSFL vice-president William Wallace. SSFL president Ewing Davis and BG T&T public affairs manager also attended the closing ceremony on December 18.
The SSFL are aiming, with the assistance of Hall, to set up Centres of Excellence in the five schools football zones (North, East, Central, South and Tobago). Last week's training programme was also used as a forum to identify personnel to run the centres, which will also have a technical director and centre directors.
The programme, based on a European model, aims to train 20 coaches who will in turn carry out the "Players Development Programmes". These programmes are planned to start in 2007 and are aimed at student players from 12-19 years old.