Senior officials of the St Lucia Football Association [SLFA] Inc. recently participated in an engaging and interactive two-day leadership and governance workshop.
The workshop, held last weekend (Saturday to Sunday), at the SLFA’s base in La Clery was conducted by two experienced CONCACAF facilitators, namely; Horace Reid, Concacaf Head of Member Association Affairs, and Howard McIntosh, Manager of the One Concacaf Program.
This collaborative effort between Concacaf and the SLFA was designed to implement the Concacaf Executive Mentorship Program. Participants at the workshop included the executive committee members and key staff members.
Speaking at the opening session of the workshop, SLFA president, Lyndon Cooper stated: “It is significant for us …because it is anticipated that this workshop will bring a level of understanding of the operations and running of member associations within Concacaf.”
He indicated that what was expected at the end of the two-day workshop “is that we leave here with a clearer understanding of what our role and our responsibility are, in terms of an organization as ‘part and parcel’ of a global family.”
While noting that there were challenges in defining those roles, Cooper said, the difficulty lies in understanding the composition of member associations, like St Lucia, “within organizations, such as Concacaf and FIFA.”
Cooper added that while the program is expected to shed light or bring about a better understanding of the SLFA’s functions, he cautioned that “as we seek to bring those issues to the forefront for a better understanding, we must pay attention to the fact that we belong to an international organization that places us in an extra-regional organization, which is Concacaf.”
According to SLFA general secretary, Victor Reid, it was a dynamic workshop “with a set content-rich and connected to best practices in football administration.”
Reid explained that “The Workshop was primarily developed to cause the Association to scrutinize and revisit its modus operandi, its Policies, and Processes and to compare its current operations with the best practices presented.”
The SLFA president acknowledged the significance of the exercise with the content presented and indicated that the SLFA was indeed moving in the right direction. He assured that the SLFA would revisit some of its policies, in order to modernize the organization’s operations and be more fully integrated into the day-to-day management of the game, here.
Cooper declared that the program had provided a better understanding, on two fronts. Firstly, he said, priority must be given to putting together “a risk-management team, and secondly, we must review or evaluate our plans and strategies every three months.”
He said the SLFA has developed a plan to work towards achieving progress in its endeavours “…and we will continue to do whatever it is we have to do, despite the costs and challenges.”
McIntosh, a former FIFA expert now with Concacaf reiterated his long-standing connection with the Saint Lucia Football Association Inc. and was joyful to see that it had continued on the right path. He also noted its vast improvements.
He was pleased with the turnout for the ‘Leadership and Governance’ workshop, stating that the discourse focused on best practices and revising and better implementing the statutes of the SLFA. “We discussed trying to ensure that the leagues that comprise the membership of the SLFA are better informed of their roles and responsibilities…and other areas such as strategic planning, crisis and risk management, and approach.”
McIntosh added that “The SLFA does have a great strategic plan and is moving on the right track with many of those things and our goal here was to try and assist them in every way possible.”
Reid expressed his satisfaction that the SLFA was in sync with the mandates as expressed by FIFA and CONCACAF.
Meanwhile, the SLFA president remains optimistic that 2022 will bring about better on-field participation as the Covid pandemic slowly recedes “and that we would soon return to some kind of normalcy in football.”
Cooper also indicated that in 2022, the SLFA would look to implement a similar program for its Member Leagues and the clubs registered in FIFA Connect.