THE Guyana Football Federation (GFF) has shown interest in developing a Primary Schools Football Programme and yesterday met with Minister of Education, Nicolette Henry, at her Brickdam office.

Representing the GFF during the discussion was GFF president Wayne Forde along with Technical Director (TD) Ian Greenwood and Youth Development Officer (YDO) Brian Joseph.
TD Greenwood, in an overview, pointed out that the programme will support football development in Guyana at all levels starting from grassroots all the way up to the senior level.

He further explained that the implementation of the programme will result in the increase of player population in the sport and improve the quality of youth coaching.
The TD further revealed that the vision of the programme is to propel youth development and to increase the population of persons, male and female, involved in the game countrywide.

The programme is also designed to produce players who have the ability to play at a high tempo, can deal with the stress of playing to win, possess athletic potential, have an efficient-based passing game, along with a balanced view of success and failure as well as possess excellent technical ability.

The programme will involve a pre-season session which will entail staff training and a regional competition and final. The GFF will also assist in providing material support to the schools as it relates to gear and coaching education for teachers.
Following the presentation, Minister Henry thanked the GFF for approaching the ministry with the initiative and highlighted that the programme aligns with the policy of the ministry.

She said that it has been the policy of government to have Physical Education as a core curriculum subject since 2015.
Minister Henry said that the Ministry of Education is willing to provide any support that is necessary to ensure the programme is executed successfully.

The minister committed to engaging the relevant officers within the ministry to start the process so that the GFF’s programme can be accommodated and executed with the requisite level of support.