With the closing of schools in Anguilla for the summer holidays, children across the island are having a welcome chance to develop their skills in a variety of sports.
The grounds of the Anguilla Football Academy, as well as those of the James Ronald Webster Park, are scenes of soccer and general sports training camps. Technical Director of the Anguilla Football Association, Colin Johnson, is the organiser of a two-week camp taking in both sporting areas.
Speaking on his behalf, Ms. Allison Hughes, a member of the Board of Directors of the Football Association, said that while the soccer camp was organised by Mr. Johnson, he was able to have the assistance and cooperation of a number of coaches.
“The participating children, ages 4-17, are from all the public and private schools in Anguilla,” she continued. “They are on the football field Monday to Friday from 9 am to 12 noon, learning the various skills of the sport. These skills include heading the ball, kicking the ball, juggling, and so on.
“Our aim is to get the children to learn and appreciate football from young and that’s why we start to train them from age 4, and we want the bigger ones to better their skills. Hopefully, we will get better teams to represent Anguilla in the years ahead. We have about two hundred children attending the soccer camp.”
Meanwhile, at a corner of the Ronald Webster Park, some forty children are undergoing training in various other sports as mentioned earlier. Ms. Katrina Richardson, of the Department of Sports, commented on the weekday activities.
“This is the Department’s annual summer camp for children ages 6 -14,” she explained. “We are teaching basic skills in various sports and this year we have Coach Kassem from Trinidad who is introducing the children to basic rugby skills. Head Coach for the camp is Ian Connor (Tucker). We have Coaches Rodi Richardson, Tafari Connor and Everet Claxton also assisting. The two-week camp started last week and we have about forty children from the various schools in attendance.”
