Gilbert wants U-17 Women’s job

Former national Under-20 women’s football team coach Xavier Gilbert said he would be applying for the position of coach of the Under-17 women’s team once it has been advertised by the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF).

The national Under-17 women’s coach position became vacant after Hubert Busby’s contract expired. JFF General Secretary Dalton Wint told The Gleaner last week that the federation intends to hire a local coach to fill the vacancy.

“I am always willing to serve my country in any capacity, and this is something that I am interested in doing,” Gilbert said.

“In fact, I am interested in any one of the age group teams because I was recently the national Under-20 women’s coach, and we defeated Canada for the first time. I have also won the Caribbean Football Union Championships with the Under-20 team a few years ago, and I have been in the national programme from 2015 at various levels.”

Gilbert, who has won a number of schoolgirl football titles with Excelsior High School, said that there are many talented young players in the island, and if he is given the job, he will do his best to ensure that these players are selected for the national team.

“I have won a number of titles with the Waterhouse Women’s team, and I have been very competitive at the Concacaf level,” he said. “The pool still needs to be widened because over the last few years, we have not seen a lot of local players being exposed for various reasons.”

This year’s Concacaf Under-17 Women’s Championships was postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

robert.bailey@gleanerjm.com