The newly appointed Technical Committee of the Trinidad and Tobago Football Association is in the process of establishing the TTFA Talent Identification Programme (TTIP).
The Objectives of this Programme are as follows:
1. To ensure maximum opportunity for players of all ages and both genders throughout the country to be seen in their own environment.
2. To provide national coaches at every level with the best available talent for coaching.
3. To provide age group talent for the Development Centre to be established in each Regional Association.
The Technical Committee has requested that each Regional Association and Women’s League Football (WOLF) identify and nominate a panel of talent scouts that will be responsible for the screening and identification of talented youth players within the area of its jurisdiction. The nomination process is expected to be completed by January 20th after which a training seminar will be organised.
Chairman of TTFA’s Technical Committee Keith Look Loy elaborated on the Talent Identification Programme, saying it is critical towards long term progress of T&T’s football. A similar programme (Talent Identification and Player Pool Programme, TIPP) has been established by TTFA in North America.
“The local Talent Identification Programme will provide every young player who wishes to be seen the opportunity to be seen in every nook and cranny of Trinidad and Tobago.
“It will be the first step in our young players pathway to elite, national and international football. Additionally, there are an estimated 325k Trinbagonians living in North America. When we drill down into the second and third generations our population is trebled. And so too our player pool.
The Mission of TIPP is “To identify players with the potential to play for our youth national teams and to unite the best Trinbagonian youth players in North America with the TTFA.”
Talent Identification Managers will assess the top players from different clubs and markets in different combinations, cross referencing top talents across North America. ID Camps will be conducted with a particular focus to ensure the staff sees the widest variety of talent in different contexts agreed upon by the TTFA and staff.
“The creation of an integrated TTFA Talent Identification System at home and overseas is one step, but a critical one, in the long term progress of our football,” Look Loy told TTFA Media.
Plans are afoot to expand the TTFA scouting network to the United Kingdom.
SOURCE: ttfootball.org