By Morissa Lindsay
Barbados’ highest qualified female football coach Kerry Trotman continues to chart her career path in coaching having recently travelled to work with the Turks and Caicos Islands Football Association Under-15 Girls team which for her was the opportunity of a lifetime.
A former senior national player who always has football at heart, Trotman admitted that after feeling frustrated with how things were going locally, she made the decision to apply overseas and while she was unsuccessful for the initial vacancy of coaching the Turks and Caicos Senior Men’s team, a different coaching opportunity presented itself to work with their junior girls’ team.
This was the first time Trotman has ever coached overseas and said that she wanted to see how her curriculum vitae (CV) stacked up against fellow football coaches around the region and by extension the world, therefore she gladly took up the challenge of applying for the vacancy.
“The decision to coach overseas was made because I wanted to see how my CV would look if I was to apply somewhere else. I would have spoken to a coach from the United Kingdom that I met on LinkedIn and she told me to send her my CV, let her take a look at it, and she said it looks good, that I should apply and see what happens.
“I think my interview was pretty good, I felt comfortable and the interaction with the interviewers went pretty well. I did not get that specific job but the General Secretary (Oliver Smith) did call me back and he asked me how I would feel coming down to work with their Under-15 team for a championship. I was ecstatic to even be considered and I was like I would definitely be interested in an opportunity like that.
“So, that was just the initial conversation and I did not get the actual post I applied for because I think that was mostly their senior men’s. So as much as my CV was good the experience required was still not enough. But the opportunity to coach the Under-15s came about and I went there for six weeks in preparation for the players of the competition,” Trotman explained.
The opportunity to coach with the Turks and Caicos Islands Football Association led by President Sonia Fulford-Missick has helped expose Trotman to another culture and compared to Barbados she pointed out that it is different. “You can turn up anywhere around Barbados and see players scrimmaging football. But in Turks and Caicos you do not see parents and kids on a pasture running football, everything happens at the FA (football association).
“It is almost like an academy setup and it has opened my eyes. I really wasn’t expecting where the players were at when I got there but I didn’t let that be a deterrent. I know it was going to be a challenge getting them to the point they needed to get to in six weeks but it definitely challenged me as a coach in terms of the best way to deal with situations like that.”
She added: “The technical director there (Dane Ritchie) was very helpful, so he would always offer feedback. I am the type of person who asks for feedback but whether or not I asked for it he would always come over and make mention to anything that I did personally that I may not have seen because being close to the session you may miss things sometimes.”
This for Trotman is an encouraging start to her coaching career and now that she has gotten her baptism coaching overseas, this has opened up her desire to do more stints abroad once the opportunity presents itself.
Trotman’s journey in coaching began in 2015 and over the years she has built a solid resume as the Under-17 and Under-20 assistant coach of the Barbados Football Association Women’s team. She was the head coach of Genesis Women’s Football Club from 2013 to 2015 and a senior coach of Kickstart Rush Football Club.
Trotman is highly qualified with Concacaf B and C coaching licences as well as a FIFA grassroots certificate to her name – all acquired in 2015 to 2022. Hence the
Turks and Caicos Islands Football Association offered her the position to coach their Under-15 Girls team at the 2022 Concacaf Championship.
She was also fortunate to work from 2017 at the national level with several women’s teams as an assistant coach under the likes of Richard ‘Juggy’ Forde and Thomas Forde with the Under-15 and Under-17 Girls team.
Despite giving of herself voluntarily at the national level, Trotman has had her fair share of challenges particularly being taken for granted numerous times in Barbados but that has not deterred her and she insisted that she intends to assist once called upon.
One of the founding members of Genesis Football Club, Trotman doesn’t believe that the powers that be who govern football in Barbados take advantage and utilize the expertise and services of persons like herself who have a passion and desire to give back to their country.
She however hopes to see that change in the near future. “I think not enough is done to keep players like me that have played and are still willing to give back to the game.” morissalindsay@barbadostoday.bb
