A two-week Summer Soccer Camp, for well over two hundred and forty school children, began on the island on Monday this week at three locations: the two playing fields at the Anguilla Football Association Stadium for children from 5-10 years; and at the Ronald Webster Park for children over 10 to 16 years.
President of the Anguilla Football Association, Raymond Guishard, told The Anguillian that several years ago the camp was started at the Blowing Point playing field at the request of the Principal and Staff of the Adrian T. Hazell Primary School. He was pleased that now, in 2013, the soccer camp was not only still in existence, but that it had been widely-developed to include all the primary schools as well as the Albena Lake-Hodge Comprehensive School.
“What we are doing is introducing children to soccer and, as you can see by the turnout, there is a considerable amount of interest in the camp,” Mr Guishard said. “It is one of two free camps on the island – the other being the basketball camp which took place last week.” According to him, the soccer camp is being sponsored by the Anguilla Football Association in the sum of approximately US$6,000 from funds obtained by FIFA as part of the Association’s “grassroots programme”.
The money covers uniforms, snacks and other costs. The camp, during which a number of coaches are working with the youngsters, runs each day from 9 am-12 noon.
Meanwhile, Mr Guishard was delighted to announce that an Under 20 female football team, led by Coach Colin Johnson, is competing in Tortola as part of a FIFA-sponsored competition. It was arranged for the Anguilla team to play against Antigua, St. Kitts and the British Virgin Islands. Anguilla’s first match was on Tuesday evening; the second on Thursday; and the third will be on Saturday.
The Football Association’s President was confident of the success of the Anguillian girls, noting that they had recently beaten a St. Maarten team in Anguilla and had also won other matches. “They have won all the matches except when we put them to play against the boys who actually beat them, but it forced them to work hard and to strive for success,” he added.
