Present TTFF Technical Director Mr. Lincoln Phillips will be starting regular goalkeeping sessions on Wednesdays at Manny Ramjohn Stadium for the Pro and Super League goalkeepers. The sessions will run for 12 weeks.
The main topics will be as follows:
Various ways of dealing with break aways (when an attacker is one v one with the goalkeeper); crossballs and utilizing defenders to play their role in crossball situations; improving diving and catching skills; distribution and dealing with pass back situations. The objective is to introduce the proper methods of training the modern goalkeeper.
The Technical Department, with funding from the Government, will begin its first developmental program shortly with clinics for talented 8, 9 and 10 year olds (boys/girls) around the country.
We will also begin screening the best 600 U-13 boys and girls. We will keep this age group program (once the funding does not dry up) going hopefully for the next 10 years.
The U-15 Boys are now finishing up their national screening to select a final team for the newly sponsored U-15 CFU tournament in August, 2005 featuring Costa Rica, USA, Mexico and Canada. The thought process here is if we are going to get beaten by the top youth teams in the CONCACAF, let it happen now when it does not matter so that we have at least two years to make the necessary adjustments. This U-15 team is in preparation for the next U-17 World Cup in 2008.
Again, once the Goverment funding is available, we will have the recent U-17 team (now U-18) in preparation for the next U-23 World Cup. This team will participate in the U-21 CAC Games in 2006; the Pan Am Games in 2007; and, the U-23 World Cup in 2008.
We plan to keep all the teams together in training throughout the year. The plans are for the teams to visit the U.S. to play in a Florida tournament in December; the Dallas Cup in April; and, a local international tournament at home in Summer (still in the planning stages). A trip to Europe (Holland) will also be in the mix. I want to make sure that our teams are well prepared from now on. I am getting some wonderful assistance from Anton Corneal, the Youth Development officer. He is in charge of youth programs as well as supervising all U-13 and U-15 zonal and national teams. Hopefully my support staff will increase soon to deal with the work we plan for the coming year.
And finally, we have just completed the certification of 106 "D" License coaches. Many of these coaches have already attended top FA and Brazilian courses over the years and confessed that the material covered in our "D" License courses was very beneficial to them. Trinidad & Tobago is changing, they are developing a thirst for knowledge. By the end of the year we hope to certify another 100 "D's"; 60 "C's"; and a few seminars on Sports Psychology, Management and Football Fitness. This is how we are going about spending the Governments money.