Trinidad and Tobago’s National Under 17 Women footballers will depart these shores for Ft Lauderdale on Wednesday for a five-day training camp as they continue their build up for the FIFA Under 17 Women’s World Cup starting in Port of Spain on September 5.
Head Coach Even Pellerud disclosed on Monday that T&T will face Republic of Ireland on August 28 and it is likely a second warm- up game could be lined up against either South Korea or Germany. The team will stay at the Hyatt Place in Ft Lauderdale and will train and play at the Pine Island Soccer Complex.
This will be the last of quite a few overseas training camps that the team has benefitted from in recent times through the efforts of the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation. Skipper Lauren Schmidt and her teammates have benefitted from the experience of training camps in South Korea, Brazil and most recently Venezuela.
Ireland are in Group D of the Women’s World Cup and will face off against Brazil. Canada and Ghana. They will play their matches on September 6 (Brazil, Larry Gomes), September 9 (Canada, Larry Gomes) and September 13 (Ghana, Dwight Yorke)
“It’s very good timing for us to have this training camp. Two games would be ideal but the one match so far against Ireland is acceptable,” Pellerud told TTFF Media following a training session on Monday.
“The distance to Fort Lauderdale is not very far and the climate is very similar to what we will have in September and there are some other teams from the tournament also training there at the moment so the environment will be good for the girls,” Pellerud added.
Captain Schmidt is also keen on the upcoming trip, adding: “Right now we are very focused on the opening match and the tournament itself and this trip will only add a lot more to our preparations. It’s important that we undergo every training session and game as though it’s a match in the tournament itself and I believe this training camp in Ft Lauderdale will definitely serve its purpose.”
On return to Port of Spain on September 30, the team will move into a live-in camp at the Crowne Plaza Hotel for the duration of their matches in the tournament.
T&T will kick off the tournament against Chile on September 5 at the Hasely Crawford Stadium. Meantime, 16-year-old German star Lena Petermann is excited to grace the playing fields of the Dwight Yorke Stadium and the Larry Gomes Stadium where the Germans will play Mexico, South Africa and Korea Republic.
“We can't wait. It's a beautiful place to hold a tournament, but we won't have much time to relax. We're not allowed to lie in the sun for too long, but I'm sure we'll find an hour or two for a walk on the beach. We had an orientation course last week and we're flying to Florida a week before the tournament for a training camp and then heading over to the Caribbean on 1 September,” Petermann said on fifa.com.
In order to take part in the tournament and the preparatory courses, the Year 11 student has had to take five weeks off school. Thankfully, that did not prove a problem as football is not the sole focus of the trip. "We have lessons during the tournament too, two hours per day," she explained.