… Clubs will use balls for youth development

TO aid the reintegration process into active association football, president of the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) Wayne Forde presented footballs to representatives of the Guyana Football Club (GFC) and Pele Football Club respectively.
This presentation was made in the Boardroom of the GFF on Tuesday to Jafar Gibbons and Alexander Best.
Prior to presentation, Forde expressed the GFF’s commitment to the reintegration of the clubs in question to mainstream football: “We will do our part in repairing the bridge and rebuilding this relationship that has been an extraordinary relationship over the years.
“The legacy of the clubs was one where they both have been dominant forces on the field and we hope that the leadership of the clubs will reposition their priorities and objectives over the coming months to reassert themselves as strong bodies.” he said.
Alexander Best, first vice-p resident of Pele Football Club, in an invited comment following the presentation, expressed gratitude for the balls and his pleasure at being active in football: “We are excited to be back on the field … it’s very nice to be back with the GFF and we will accept these balls as a part of the grooming process for the team.
“We will mostly wish to use the balls for the practice games as we normally train with the local balls. Since we are concentrating on the youth, we would want to provide them the exposure of playing with the FIFA balls so they can get a feel of them.”
Like Best, team manager of GFC, Jafar Gibbons, said the balls will also be useful to enable their youth footballers to become familiar with game balls: “It’s a great step by the GFF.
“You can make a field anywhere, you can make a goal out of anything but at the end of the day the most important thing in football is the actual ball because you can’t play without a ball.”
Gibbons continued, “It will be great if we practise and play with game balls as all of the leagues use the balls. If we train with a different ball, mistakes are usually made in the games when kicking a ball one is not familiar with; so I think it is a great step forward especially since we have a very active youth programmme. It will be a great thing to enhance what we already have.”
This initiative is part of a continuous effort by the Executive Committee to ensure active football in Guyana especially at the senior level.