The search for a T&T Senior Women's football coach has begun in earnest.
The T&T Football Association (TTFA) began advertising for individuals to fill the position on Monday and former coach Richard Hood, who took the Under-20 Women's team to the quarterfinal of the CONCACAF Championship in the Dominican Republic last year, is set to submit his application.
Hood's agreement to be the country's under-17 and under-20 coach had to be cancelled following the cancellation of the qualifiers at both the CONCACAF and FIFA levels late last year.
Hood, a Police offer by profession told Guardian Media Sports on Monday that he could not say whether he will be picked or not, however, he's confident in his ability to do the job, having had experience at both the senior level and at the junior level.
The selected coach will be accountable to the football association's Technical Director and Technical Committee, and will have major responsibilities which, according to the outline in the invitation, states:
"Applicants for the position of the head coach must be able to: lead training sessions, provide motivation and advice during gameplay, develop game plans, attend tryouts, schedule team meetings, and should be able to identify the individual abilities of each player."
He/she will also: Be a member of the Association’s Technical Department; Lead and manage a National Team, including its player personnel and technical staff; Aid in the selection of the player personnel of said National Team; Develop and implement the training programme of said National Team and submit said programme to the Association’s Technical Director; Report on the implementation of said programme to the Association’s Technical Director and Technical Committee, including the performance of player personnel and technical staff.
Also, the successful coach will: Assist in the training of programmes of other National Teams and perform other technical assignments, as recommended by the Association’s Technical Director and Technical Committee.
Applicants are to submit resumes, contact information and a copy of all related documents to technical.ttfa@gmail.com or the office of the TTFA at Ato Boldon Stadium, Balmain Couva on or before Tuesday 19 January 2021. They can also contact the TTFA office at 868 364-0489.
The invitation for the position of coach comes on the heels of calls by the sport's world governing body-FIFA, for more emphasis to be placed on women's football, as articulated by Chairman of the FIFA-appointed Normalisation Committee Robert Hadad last weeks.
Women's football technical director Jinelle James said they are looking for a competent, qualified person who has a desire to work with the women's team and be committed to the women's programme. She noted the programmes must have a certain level of success and ultimately qualify the senior women team for the 2023 FIFA World Cup.
According to James, FIFA's decision to focus on women's football is aimed at preventing the negative social media posts of teams inability to hold camps, coupled with other concerns of no water and funding etc for teams to compete at tournaments.
In 2018, two T&T players, goalkeeper Saundra Baron and defender Arin King took to social media to highlight their concerns ahead of the CONCACAF Women's Championship which was scheduled to be a qualifier for the FIFA Women's World Cup in France.
Then, King said their problems stemmed from a lack of support from the parent football association.