Busby calls for camps for young Girlz

Hubert Busby Jr, head coach of Jamaica’s senior women’s football team, believes that it is increasingly important for the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) to stage camps to advance the development of the nation’s young female footballers after the scrapping of the Under-17 and Under-20 Women’s World Cup tournaments and qualifiers.

The camps, he believes, will help the most promising youngsters in the island to matriculate to the senior women unit and continue the upward trajectory of the programme.

Busby Jr revealed that the technical staff has already submitted a six-month plan to the JFF, and that they are also hoping to host camps for the senior team during the FIFA Women’s international window, starting in February.

“At the (Concacaf) Under-20 tournament (qualifiers), we made it to the quarter-finals and to beat the likes of Canada on the way was a monumental step in the right direction. We saw the growth of players in the tournament and some were called to the senior camp, and six to seven will be back for the next cycle for the Under-20 World Cup qualifiers in two years, which is very encouraging,” Busby Jr said.

However, the cancellation of the Under-17 qualifiers meant those girls were unable to get the experience of playing against the region’s best in the final round of the qualifiers, which was set for Mexico.

CAMPS VITAL

As a result, Busby Jr said it is vital that the federation continues to organise training camps and provide opportunities to help the girls’ development.

“The disappointing one was the Under-17 qualifiers, which was called off. So what is really important, and I have spoken to the director of football Mr (Wendell) Downswell about it, is that we need to do something for this group in the spring or summer, so that we can ensure that this pool of players also get the chance to matriculate,” said Busby Jr.

“Not getting the opportunity to experience playing in the World Cup qualifier was a loss. We had a camp in Jamaica in March. We were halfway through when it was called off but we got a glimpse of those players and then spent the next five months where we had technical and tactical Zoom calls with the players, so they could understand what we are trying to do and what we are trying to implement from our senior women’s team all the way down,” he added.

“Essentially, the Under-17 is the backbone of our senior women’s team. So it is important that they are re-engaged as soon as possible. We want to be able to matriculate more players into the senior women’s team when we finally get together,” Busby Jr noted.

Meanwhile, with the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup qualification scheduled to start in November next year, Busby Jr said every effort is being made to get the team together.

“We have submitted our plans to the JFF. The idea now is to see where the funding is going to come from, but there is a collective effort within the federation to get something done. Hopefully, early in January, we can get something signed off on the details and logistics for the next FIFA window for women,” he said.

livingston.scott@gleanerjm.com