The Dominica Football Association hosted a press conference on Thursday 29th September at the football house to launch its sponsors of the Under 15 boys league.
It was announced that the league will begin from this weekend to provide the youth the opportunity to play against themselves after the setbacks from COVID-19.
At the conference, Technical Director of the Dominica Football Association, Jerome Bardouille said training Dominica’s young football players is essential for the future development of our national teams.
“Training young players are essential for the future of our national teams and so association and clubs have a huge responsibility to develop football in the country. I had the opportunity to meet with club representatives to show the state of football in our country and we were able to take a look of our present gaps and how they are affecting our outputs,” Bardouille said in his address
He noted there was an overwhelming competition for partnership among the clubs and technical department to address their “shortcomings” and to work together to improve football from the base in order to have good senior players.
“I see the lack of desire, commitment and willingness to go the extra mile and to put in place the structure required to elevate the level of our game and I will therefore say success will be achieved through hard work.”
He added that it was unfortunate that they were unable to continue the league in 2021 as COVID presented an unfortunate barrier as far as youth development. The technical officer stated that this is the chance clubs have been anticipating.
“The league will commence this weekend that has so much to offer to the young men in our care. Football can be described as the school of life through which valuable skills can be taught such as team work, dedication and perseverance.”
Bardouille said through healthy competition, young people are taught the importance of team work and cooperation balanced by good sportsmanship.
“There are no shortcuts to success as players’ minds need to be made up to work hard and I hope that this league will be taken seriously and coaches will put a plan together for development of the game.”
