Female Football Scholarships a real possibility

Academics must match skill level

The question has always been asked, what about scholarships for our athletes and in this case, our female footballers.

The men behind the new charge for female football development, Mark Rodrigues (Technical Director) and Colin Baker (Programme Director) sought to explain the possibilities of local players gaining such opportunities.

Colin Baker

Tony De Rosario

Baker who is also President of the Guyana Sports Development Foundation (GSDF), a Guyanese Organisation based in Florida which assists in the development of our sportsmen and women, said that the talent and academic level of the players has to be assessed when thinking of accessing scholarships.

Rodrigues, a former Georgetown Football Club player and Coach at the University of South Florida noted that the scholarships that are granted to players are based on two things. “Their athletic ability based on the specific sport they are playing along with their academics.

Regardless of any other thing else, these are the two things that will be looked at. The NCAA rule book is the largest in the world and this is the basic crux of the matter.”

The NCAA is the governing body for all Collegiate Sports in the USA at the division one, two and three and there is NAIA. According to Rodrigues, the difference in the rules between the two organizations is very subtle.

Mark Rodrigues

Rohan Narine

Division One Coach Rohan Narine who works at the Postal Carolina University stated that there are lots of opportunities available at various levels. Another Coach in the programme and based in Canada is Tony De Rosario who runs the Provincial Programme in Ontario.

It was also highlighted by Rodrigues that most of the national women players from countries around the world, ply their trade in the United States including Japan, England and Canada.

Dozens of players from Caribbean Islands Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago also play in the USA and Coach Rodrigues said he keeps track of them since his University also tries to recruit them for their team.

“And my hope is that we get to a stage where Guyana will be in the same category. I am actually brining my boss to Guyana on Wednesday (today) to see what we have to offer. He was also with the team in the Turks and Caicos Islands and is also a member of my staff and part of this programme.”

The USA based Guyanese lasses were expected to arrive in Guyana early this morning while the Surinamese team will arrive around midday.

The International tournament kicks off tomorrow at the Guyana National Stadium from 17:00hrs with the local Guyana team matching skills with their USA counterparts.

On Friday at the Enmore ground, Guyana USA will face Suriname from 16:00hrs; on Saturday at the Mackenzie Sports Club ground Guyana local tackles Suriname while on Sunday at the Blairmont Community Centre ground also from 16:00hrs the two Guyana teams will go head to head again.

The Friday, Saturday and Sunday encounters will all be played as undercard games at the Kashif and Shanghai tournament matches.