“THIS is the continuation of the school football programme, where we are using the best female players from schools which participated in the Scotiabank/Pepsi Football Academy to create an All Star team, whose focus is to participate in the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) League tournament,” said the founder member of the Guyana Sports Development Foundation (GSDF) Colin Baker, just before the national female Under-17 All Star lineup took the field for a practice fixture against a Georgetown Football Club (GFC) Under-13 unit at the GFC ground, Tuesday afternoon.

The team had also received from Scotiabank, a set of uniforms which will be used during their participation in the GFF league that is set to kick off shortly and any other tournament they decide to compete in.
“We are looking at keeping this team together, having coach Bill Wilson work with them and build on what they have, such as their fundamentals and take them to that higher level in a structured and disciplined environment,” stated Baker.
He added, “As we know, it’s a school programme, but what we will do is work with the Pepsi/Scotiabank School programme which caters for a player up to the age of 15, but we will be keeping the players after that time has elapsed and are still in school, to be a part of the team until they reach 18 years of age.
“One of the purposes to do so is to further develop them in the sport, while at the same time look to acquire scholarship opportunities for these players, since they cannot get same at 15 years old and we will get the scouts here and provide scholarship opportunities even if it is for the University of Guyana and further afield.”
The GSDF head said they will do the same thing for the males who compete in the GSDF/Scotiabank/Pepsi Football Academy, but chose to use the females as a model, before taking it to the opposite sex.
He said he held discussions with both sponsors of the GSDF Academy who both shared his vision and after the schools programme is complete, an All Star team will be selected and placed in training, with the schools programme going for a six-month period and the training camp for the remainder of the year.
He is of the opinion that while the Digicel-sponsored nationwide Inter-Secondary Schools tournament provides a good opportunity for talent-scouting, there is a need to provide proper guidance and training for the players.
“This is exactly what the GSDF programme offers. We train referees and coaches within the school system and while I am grateful for the support from Scotiabank and Pepsi, it would be nice to see other business entities within corporate Guyana coming forward and giving us their support as well.
“We want to spread this to other areas. When we started two years ago, we had 13 schools competing and now there is more and the scope is there for more schools from outlying areas to compete as well, but we need the support to get it done and I hope other companies see the vision of that structure and offer their support.
“After the first year, seven of the girls who were playing football for the first time, were selected to the national Under-17 team which was primarily a locally based lineup, save for one overseas player and we are of the opinion that all of these girls gathered here today, have what it takes to make an all-local female national football team,” Baker stated.