The Trinidad and Tobago Football Association held the first of a multi-part workshop for recently appointed National Teams Managers at the Ato Boldon Stadium. The workshop was facilitated by Renee John Williams, CONCACAF administrative instructor.
The managers of the various national teams were in attendance for the Team Managers Workshop which was rolled out by CONCACAF in 2018 ahead of the inaugural CONCACAF Nations League. It was developed with a view of equipping managers and general secretaries in the region with the tools needed to enhance their skillsets in preparation for regional and international tournaments and generally the on the job duties of a team manager.
“It was a much welcomed training workshop. For the TTFA it was the first of such to be hosted locally,” John-Williams (R) told TTFA Media on Friday.
“ With the recent appointments of managers to the various national teams it was quite timely as some managers were new to their role having functioned in other areas of the game.”
The workshop focused on the expectations of the role of a team manager pre, during and post tournament, the various interactions to expect, and opened a wide ranging discussion amongst the group of participants.
“In an attempt to help streamline the various processes when preparing for tournaments and remove some of the guess work that one may experience at times, checklists and templates were also provided. We don’t need to reinvent the wheel but we can definitely improve on existing processes to better serve football,” John-Williams continued.
As the W Connection Chief Executive Officer explained, “There is no certificate, diploma or degree program that will teach you how to be a national football team manager so these training workshops that the development office of Concacaf has developed serves to uplift the game and the quality of administrators around the region.
“What we do off the field in our preparation phases directly affects our on field performances in either a positive or negative manner, so the better we are at doing our jobs with the requisite support of our Associations and various stakeholders, the better the product we see on the field.
“Many times around the region we find that managers get appointed just before travel to go with the team and a lot of the processes required during the preparation phases are improperly or inadequately serviced creating an unprofessional impression and uncomfortable environment often resulting in fines and unnecessary delays which can be costly,” John-Williams added.
At the Concacaf level for the various member associations workshops such as these usually take place over a three day period prior to tournaments such as the Nations League as it involves stadium and hotel site visits which provided participants with the practical aspect of what would have been discussed in the classroom sessions.
The TTFA managers workshop is expected to continue shortly with the return of the Women’s Under 20 team manager with Director of National Teams Richard Piper wanting to ensure that all the relevant officials benefited from the exercise.
TTFA President William Wallace welcomed the workshop and the input of Renee John-Williams, saying “This was a much needed exercise and we are grateful to have commenced the process of preparing our managers for their duties with our various national teams. We saw the need to offer a level of training and guidance for our managers to equip them for their role in the game that is constantly evolving before us. I think that having Renee serve in the capacity as facilitator is an added benefit and I am certain our managers will be better prepared to take on their respective roles with such an intense schedule of activities ahead for our national teams at all levels,” added Wallace, a former Senior and Under 23 Men’s Team manager.
One of the participants, Under 15 Boys team manager Dexter Demas, a former Manager at Airports Authority and Defence Force captain, stated.
“That was a beautiful workshop that she conducted. The learning and knowledge base has gone upwards. She pointed out key things that will affect us in carrying a team from our base in Trinidad to an international port and back. She made reference to various situations we can expect to encounter and how we could resolve such dilemmas during the period,” Demas said.
“It was very interactive and we all shared experiences where the lessons learned could benefit one another,” was how John-Williams later summed it up.