Forty participants from local and regional associations and clubs have joined in a four-day FIFA Members Association Administrative and Management Course, which opened at the VIP Lounge of the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Port-of-Spain, yesterday.
T&T Football Association (TTFA) president Raymond Tim Lee opened the event, which is being conducted by Fifa instructor Patrick Beckles.
"This is truly a historic occasion for us in T&T because while we have had courses in the past, those always involved participants from the region but this one is geared specifically towards members of the T&T football fraternity. We identified the course and Fifa approved it and now we expect it will go a long way in improving the administration and management of the game in local football," Tim Kee said.
The TTFA's desired objective for this course is "to develop a cadre of football administrators who can both manage and develop the resources required to achieve substantial football programmes."
Throughout the course, the participants will be challenged to adopt and adapt best practice principles and existing, successful football programmes to their local situation. Discussion will be encouraged, exchange of ideas and relevance to local situation explored.
Case Studies will be used throughout to introduce, highlight and reinforce the key concepts being presented. They will be referred to as teaching moments during the various sessions and as many practical group sessions will be incorporated to enable examination and application of the best practice principles.
The courses were offered by Fifa. The world governing body has sought to assist the local body and this all falls within the TTFA's commitment to the development of the game in T&T.