After months of screening sessions in various zones, almost 100 U-15 girls came out to the Marvin Lee Stadium, Macoya yesterday, to participate in a Zonal Tournament, organised by the T&T Football Federation and the Local Organising Committee. Teams from South, East, Central and Tobago were represented at the tournament and competed against each throughout the day, in order to give national coaches, including Marlon Charles and Stephan De Four a fair chance at effectively selecting a national U-15 team.
Though another screening session was carded to take place tomorrow, Charles explained that they (the coaches) achieved their objectives and another day would not be necessary, in addition to which, he said that the players would not have enough time to recover. “I am very happy about today, it says a lot for women’s football and where it is going. I want to give credit to the TTFF and the LOC for playing a part in this and helping us to develop women’s football.
This is a good day for the women’s game,” said Charles. The programme which initiated the one-day tournament came out of the TTFF’s Legacy Programme for the U-17 World Cup which will be staged in T&T in September. “Because we are having a World Cup, there must be a legacy,” said Charles. “Even Pellerud (Technical Director Women’s Football in T&T) decided that there should be U-15 and U-13 programmes, so he put me in charge of co-coordinating it.”