THE Vieux Fort South Football League (VFSFL) in collaboration with Project Next Mile (PNM) a Canadian Humanitarian Group, based in Nova Scotia, under the auspices of the Saint Lucia Football Association (SLFA) Inc will for the fourth consecutive year undertake its female football Development Coaching Programme (DCP).
The programme will kick off from Monday 17th to Saturday 22nd February at the Phillip Marcellin Grounds (PMG).
The programme which started in 2017, through the efforts of League Vice President JeffaBellas, has been aptly named The JeffaBellas Female Development Programme, after her passing.
This project started on a small scale in Vieux Fort South and has expanded over the past three years to include most of the Southern Leagues reaching as far as Soufriere and Mon Repos impacting over 100 females in 2019.
This year the programme is expected to grow even bigger with the inclusion of the Eastern Leagues of Dennery and Mabouya Valley.
The Vieux Fort South Football League has been the main coordinator of the event with assistance from local coaches from the Southern Leagues. The main facilitator is Canadian ex National Footballer Kaitlyn MacIssac, along with PNM facilitator Micheal Sangster and a team of Canadian volunteers.
Also onboard is former Canadian Under 20 World Cup team member Sarah Taylor, who will be the main presenter on aspects of personal development.
The various activities will be expanded and will aim at influencing schools as the team is expected to visit five of the schools on the SLFA’s ‘Adopt A school Programme’. The schools to be visited are the Grande Riviere Secondary, Clendon Mason Memorial, AnseGer Secondary, Beanefield Secondary and Vieux Fort Comprehensive.
The visits are expected to be both of a personal and coaching development nature as they will coincide with the timing and date that the programme will be implemented at the schools.
The programme will also facilitate an on field coaching development aspect for female footballers and in-class personal development sessions for the coaches and administrators attached to the female teams of the said leagues.
Meanwhile, from Monday 17th to Friday 21st February from 4.00 p.m. to 6.00 p.m., the coaching aspect will be done. The development aspect for coaches will be undertaken on Monday 17th, Wednesday 19th and Friday 21st from 6.30 p.m. while the visit to schools will be undertaken during normal school hours.
The programme culminates on Saturday 22nd with a Football Festival from 10.00 a.m. at the PMG.