BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - IN an effort to find young footballers within the Federation and to hone their skills, the St. Kitts and Nevis Football Association (SKNFA) has launched a new Technical Development Scheme (TDS) - a scouting and academy level programme.
The programme, which is a FIFA-sponsored initiative, will see the SKNFA hosting trials in four locations around St. Kitts and Nevis with a view to finding the best young prospects.
Those prospects will then be drafted into the National Academy which will be housed at the Technical Center in St. Peter's.
This was disclosed at a media engagement, where the President of the SKNFA, Atiba Harris, confirmed that the programme had started yesterday (Jan. 16) in Cayon and would then move to Nevis, Verchilds and Basseterre as regional centers.
“Basically, it is to identify all [the] talents around St. Kitts and Nevis,” Harris told reporters.
He noted that the programme would not hamper the current structure of youth football across the Federation, as it forms part of the technical plan submitted to and approved by FIFA.
Leonard Taylor, Technical Director of the SKNFA, told reporters that the general aim is for long term success where players would make an impact over time.
“So, this initiative is starting to build a consistent development programme, so that at the end of the day we wll have a strong youth national team,” noted Taylor.
The talented young boys and girls will be training four days per week at the Technical Center under a strict regimen, whereby there will be strict policies and grade levels that must be achieved, while also providing tutor assistants for those who are slacking off in their grades.
Taylor also noted that those who are unable to adhere to the programme would be replaced.
When asked by this publicatin about costing for the programme and whether any would be passed on to parents, the Technical Director said responded in the negative, emphasizing that funding has been provided by FIFA.
St. Kitts-Nevis and Jamaica are the only two English-speaking Caribbean territories to have instituted the programme.
