TRINIDAD and Tobago girl footballers were highly praised for their ability, when they showcased their skills for visiting Chelsea coaches at the Digicel Kick Start Clinic.
Chelsea coaches David Monk, Andrew Ottley and Kobina Elliot met the girls at St Mary’s ground, Serpentine Road, on Wednesday.
Monk said, it was fantastic working with the young ladies, and found them to be technically very sound with good athletic ability, which attested to excellent training.
He noted he was “very impressed with the level of training that he saw at the Digicel Kick Start Clinic.”
And he described Trinidad and Tobago as a powerhouse of football talent, and expressed the view that, “within the region, Trinidad and Tobago could put itself as number one at the moment.”
The girls, Monk said were put through a very technical warm up during which they parctised various techniques, passing with either right foot or left and volleying.
But it was the goalkeeping techniques which particularly impressed the Chelsea coaches, the manner in which they saved in either the top and bottom corners.
One young footballer, Matika Salandy of Real Dimension of Belmont said of the clinic, “it was fun playing with such a larger number of girls who were enthusiastic about improving their game and eager to learn.”
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Girls impress at Digicel kick start clinic
T&T Guardian Reports.
For the first time since the programme’s inception, female footballers had an opportunity to showcase their skills at the Digicel Kickstart Clinic in view of visiting Chelsea FC coaches.
As they took to the field at St Mary’s College Ground, Serpentine Road, Port-of-spain, on Wednesday, the girls, by all accounts, gave senior international football development officer at Chelsea, David Monk, international technical support officer, Andrew Ottley and international football development head coach Kobina Elliot, a good impression.
Monk was in high priase for what he had encountered on his second visit to T&T for the Digicel Kickstart Clinic. “It was fantastic working with the young ladies,” Monk said. “We found them to be technically very sound; they had good athletic ability and obviously have had excellent training.”
The girls engaged in a technical warm-up, where they practiced various techniques and challenges including left and right-foot passing and volleying. The coaches were particularly impressed by the skills of the goalkeepers, as well as players who selected areas of the net to target to shoot at.
One young footballer, Matika Salandy from Real Dimension Football Club enjoyed the one-day training event.
“It was fun playing with such a large number of girls who were enthusiastic about improving their game, and eager to learn,” she said.
Both the boys and girls left an impression with Monk, who was “very impressed with the level of training.” He described this country as a powerhouse of football talent. He was of the view that “within the region, T&T could put itself as number one at the moment.”
The coaches will now move on to Bermuda for the next stop of their Caribbean tour.