FOLLOWING the recently concluded Secondary Schools Football League (SSFL) Championship, competitive football returns for girls in thrilling fashion as the Concept Coaching Girls Under-17 tournament kicks off in Plymouth, Tobago on Sunday.
Women’s football in Trinidad and Tobago has been sedately progressing since the covid19 restrictions were lifted. In 2022, there was the return of the Women’s League Football (WoLF) – TT’s premier senior women’s league – and the girls’ SSFL competitions. The TT Senior National Women’s Team also competed at the Concacaf Women’s Championship, which proved to be a forgettable campaign for the Soca Princesses.
Due to the lack of advancement in the local women’s game, coach and youth-football-lover Roger Smith believes that girls should be playing more football before they get to the national level – whether it is for the youth teams or senior teams.
He is currently the owner and head coach of the Concept Coaching Football Academy, which provides a platform for boys and girls to develop at grassroots level. The academy is based in east Trinidad and targets youth players from the early age of six to the under-20 level.
Smith began his coaching career in 2009 after attaining his first coaching license from the Trinidad and Tobago Football Association (TTFA) – TTFA ‘D’ License – which was lectured by TT legend, Lincoln Phillips. In an interview with Newsday, he said “When I did my first course, he (Lincoln Phillips) asked the question – what is your reason for being here? I responded saying that I just wanted to change football in the country.
“I thought that there wasn’t much meaningful, structured youth football being played. So after gaining some experience and attaining several licenses for a few years, I started my own academy in 2018.”
Smith also achieved success in acquiring the Coerver Coaching Youth Diploma 1, a license made specifically for youth coaches inspired by Dutch football coach Wiel Coerver.
The Concept Coaching Academy proved to be a positive step for aspiring footballers as it gave children and parents a place to foster development on the field of play. It also brought the communities of east Trinidad together for fun and competitive football.
Concept Coaching later added to its dynamism by also becoming a competition host and event coordinator for other clubs and academies to have a platform for competitive development at youth level. In this aspect, Smith is assisted by the SSFL president Merere Gonzales, who is the technical consultant at the organisation. Smith stated, “I want to have a product suited to TT’s progress; it’s the way we teach the game and getting coaches to buy into it. This (Concept Coaching) is an assessment platform and competition is the best way to assess players and coaches.”
“I don’t see other academies or coaches as competition because I look at the bigger picture where we (Trinidad and Tobago) are ranked in the world as well as our ability to battle other countries, an
