BASSETERRE St.Kitts, February 10th 2011 - The St Kitts Nevis Football Association Technical Director Mr. Lenny Lake made a special visit to the Nevis Football Association to discuss the future of Football in Nevis. Lenny Lake travelled to Nevis on Thursday 3rd February 2011. The Technical Director travelled with Marketing Manager Andrea Liburd and members of the SKNFA’s Grassroots and Beach Soccer Committee.
The meeting was attended by the Nevis Football President Mr. Collin Walwyn, Vice President, SKNFA Executive Member Raymond Smith, and Executive Member Leroy Sweeney.
Mr. Lake the Technical Director discussed various new programmes that have been launched in St Kitts and the schedule to introduce the same programmes in Nevis.
The discussion began with plans for Beach Soccer in Nevis. Nevis is not new to playing football on the beach and has a beach football festival held annually. During the discussion it was agreed that although Nevis plays football on the beach the official Beach Soccer rules are different and plans were made to introduce the new format of the game in Nevis. Plans were also discussed to have a workshop for coaches and referees as well as introduce the game in the High Schools in Nevis. Plans were also made to continue the league in Nevis under the new Beach Soccer rules.
Grassroots was second on the agenda as the Nevis Association was keen to get involved with the programme. The target group is communities that might not have a strong football programme but there are children from the age of 5-12 who can be taught the game in a fun way.
Lenny Lake explained that “the Grassroots programme will become a National Football Programme and there are plans to launch the programme in the rural areas in St Kitts and also to have the same programme in Nevis.”
Mr. Lake also said, “my philosophy for 2011 is to develop football in the rural areas in St Kitts and Nevis.”
The target area that was pointed out by the Technical Director is Bath Village.
Coaching Education was also discussed. The TD enquired about the qualified coaches
in Nevis. The need to have licensed coaches would improve the quality and standard of the game in Nevis. The Nevis Association was asked to provide the SKNFA with a list of names that would be interested in becoming a licensed coach. The names would be placed on the list for the next coaching course scheduled in Nevis, St. Kitts, regionally and internationally.
Membership of the Nevis Association was also discussed. Currently there is only one club registered with the SKNFA and the Technical Director urged the Nevis Association to seriously consider encouraging teams to come onboard as Nevis will miss out on a lot of opportunities planned for 2011.
Mr. Lake explained, “There are courses scheduled to be held in Nevis on the calendar but these are tentative as FIFA would not send the equipment directly to Nevis as these courses are Member Association (MA) courses. Nevis can be considered for equipment but they would have to go through St Kitts Nevis Association as it stands. The benefits for these courses are unlimited. From a Technical point of view I really want to see Nevis improve and this can only happen with hosting FIFA courses etc.”
The Nevis Association indicated that talks were ongoing with regards to becoming a member of the SKNFA. They are in discussion and are close to an agreement with the clubs in Nevis in order for this to become a reality.
Also discuss at the meeting was the new programme being launched in the Federation WICWC.
After the meeting the Team visited several potential sites for Beach Soccer and an indoor facility in Nevis.
