FERNLEAF and GFF get women back out on the field

Apr 22, 2015 Sports

This past Sunday with the corporate support of Fernleaf, the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) Women’s Fest was made a reality at the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) Base, Camp Ayanganna.
The event was the second of two Awareness Outreach programmes that the GFF has used to get women kicking again.
“It was important for us to get together a sample of young women from various regions out playing, talking about football again, and Fernleaf helped us do that,” said GFF Technical Director, Claude Bolton.
He was adamant that the “… first precept of development has to be fun; that’s what today was about.” From the abundance of smiles on the field, fun seemed to be had by all.
The GFF will formally introduce its NEXT GENERATION PROJECT Technical Plan today. This endeavor clearly places at the forefront of Guyana’s football development the areas of Grassroots, Youth, Women, and Coaching Education.
New Amsterdam Teacher, Onefa George, who participated as a player in the Fernleaf GFF Women’s Fest praised the event as, “Very encouraging. It was nice to see so many young players out. As a woman and a Teacher it is good to see that the sport is still alive among women…this can be a catalyst for women to step up and carry it further.”
The participants were also treated to a visit by GFF Senior Men’s Team Head Coach, Jamaal Shabbazz who also took the opportunity to scout the Under-23 talent that was on show in an exhibition match between East Bank and East Demerara that followed, as he is looking to assemble a squad for the upcoming Olympic Qualifiers. East Bank won the game 1-0; Delroy Dobson scored the goal.
The GFF is looking forward to having to a continued working relationship with Fernleaf and other corporate sponsors as they aim to keep Women’s football in the forefront with more events soon to come.