BFA coaches to get Argentine training

The Barbados Football Association (BFA) on Tuesday announced that two Barbadian youth coaches will participate in a new initiative set to significantly strengthen football development in the region, specifically in Barbados and nine other Caribbean countries.

The Argentine-Caribbean Youth Football: Training of Trainers Programme is a partnership between the Argentinian Estudiantes de La Plata Football Club (EDLP), the Caribbean Football Union (CFU), the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF), the Argentine Fund for International Cooperation (FO.AR), and the Organization of American States (OAS).

It is aimed at building the technical capabilities of Caribbean youth football coaches through introducing innovative coaching techniques, improving coaching standards and best practice, and is also designed to use the unifying power of football (particularly at the level of youth coaching) to make a positive contribution towards youth empowerment and social advancement in communities across the region.

The BFA will be represented in the programme by Marlon Harte, assistant coach of the national senior men’s team, current football coach at Combermere School, past head coach of the national Under-15 boys team, and youth club football coach, as well as Kerry Trotman, a current senior coach at Technique FC, and a recent graduate of the International Coaching Course (ICC) through the Hungarian University of Sports Sciences (HUSS) in Budapest, Hungary, by way of an Olympic Solidarity (OS) Scholarship.

Both Harte and Trotman are additionally holders of Concacaf B-License Coaching Certifications and are currently undertaking the FIFA Coach Educators’ Development Pathway – the international training required to become an accredited Coach Educator.

Argentinian Technical Partners EDLP, who are known for producing world-class players and integrating sport and education, will facilitate the Training of Trainers Programme, which will be implemented in two stages:

1. Eight-weeks virtual theoretical training including coaching methodologies and sports psychology (February – March 2025); and
2. A five-day in-person intensive football clinic held at the UWI/JFF Horace Burrell Centre of Excellence in Jamaica (April 2025).

BFA President Randy Harris was in Jamaica last week in his capacity as CFU President to officially launch the Argentine-Caribbean Youth Football: Training of Trainers Programme and gave his full support to the partnership between Argentina and the Caribbean.

“Regional and international partnerships such as these are critical to sustainable football development, and with Argentina named as the 2024 FIFA/Coca-Cola top-ranked men’s football team, we could not ask for a more inspiring and fitting collaboration to help strengthen Caribbean football,” he said.

“And, the programme’s impact will be two-fold. Football is a powerful tool that cuts across genders, cultures, languages, religions, socioeconomics, and politics, so this initiative is not only a great way to collectively raise the standard of our regional youth coaching capacity for the next generation of footballers to excel, but it also plays a vital role in youth empowerment, social development, and uniting diverse communities and countries off the pitch, through the important mentoring and guidance that youth coaches provide to our young people, and the breadth of social inclusion that football offers; leaving no youth behind.

The BFA wishes Marlon and Kerry all the best in their participation in the Programme and looks forward to their continued contribution to the youth football landscape in Barbados, and beyond.”

Other countries participating in the Argentine-Caribbean Youth Football: Training of Trainers Programme include Antigua & Barbuda, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, St Kitts & Nevis, Saint Lucia, St Vincent & the Grenadines, and Trinidad & Tobago.

(PR)