Back Row – Dan Dodge, Delano Mussington & Myri Demetriov
Many young people, youth workers/leaders as well as prisoners, in Anguilla, have benefitted significantly from a two-week life skills training programme. It was organized by the Department of Youth and Culture in collaboration with the Tottenham Hotspurs Foundation of the United Kingdom and the Departments of Sports and Education in Anguilla.
The UK-based Foundation is a charity of the Tottenham Hotspurs Football Club. Among other things it focuses on specialist programmes that deliver on core objectives; improving achievement, building community cohesion, promoting healthy lifestyles and supporting persons with liabilities.
Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, March 26, Ms. Joleyne Robin, Senior Programme Officer, Youth Affairs Division in Anguilla, said her department was pleased to have two representatives of the Tottenham Hotspurs Foundation on the island. The visiting coaches, Mr. Dan Dodge and Mr. Myri Demetriov, were actively involved in a variety of life skills activities, over the past two, weeks with young people and social workers. Ms. Robin explained that the coaching was made possible with the support of Mrs. Blondel Cluff from the Anguilla UK Office, the West India Committee and the Tottenham Hotspurs Foundation – with funding by the Premier League in the UK and the Government of Anguilla.
“The focus of this trip was to provide training for youth, sports and social workers through education, life skills and the development of football,” Ms. Robin stated. “The London Office of the Government of Anguilla has forged a working relationship with the charity foundation and the Premier League. Through sports and coaching, it seeks to address behavioural issues and personal development among young people.”
Director of Sports, Mr. Andre Collins, gave a brief overview of the work in Anguilla by the two visiting coaches from the Tottenham Hotspurs Football Club. He said his department was very happy to have been engaged in the training conducted by the coaches. He was delighted that the UK coaches, and their foundation, had undertaken to engage the Anguillian young people in a more meaningful way than had been done on the island so far.
“The coaches, Dan Dodge and Myri Demetriov, had some very good workshops and the word from everybody who participated is very positive. My coaches at the Department of Sports are very excited about some of the strategies that have been introduced. They were also able to see these gentlemen put some of those skills into practice with the young people. They also worked with some prisoners from Her Majesty’s Prison as well.”
Both UK coaches said they were pleased with the interest and teamwork shown in the football coaching by the young Anguillians, notwithstanding that they had a keen interest in basketball.
They explained that the training involved different groups. “For the first group, the vulnerable and at risk, we used sports as a hook to get them engaged as well as organization, team work and collaboration,” Dan Dodge, the main spokesman, reported.
“The second group involved a number of young people already engaged in an afternoon school club. For those it was more about using football specifically as a sport, and then promoting those life skills that come with it.
“We also worked with four prisoners, and we put them through some leadership-style activities, personal communication and collaboration.
“The final element of our work involved teachers, coaches and other practitioners working with young people.”
The two UK coaches, who have now left Anguilla, are expected to return to the island in May to undertake further coaching work.
Meanwhile, the Department of Youth and Culture will be putting in place arrangements and strategies to ensure that the efforts made to assist the island’s young people are sustained.
