CONCACAF Women's Football Day, Turks & Caicos Islands
On Saturday November 18th, CONCACAF hosted it’s third annual Women’s Football Day where all 41 member associations within the confederation, including the Turks and Caicos Islands Football Association (TCIFA), united to celebrate the platform of creating more opportunities for female to increase their participation in the male dominated sport - football. The Event, hosted under the theme “Every girl can play,” saw 80 female players participating from age groups Under 9 to adults, 8 coaches, and 3 referees. The Players were from all four TCIFA Youth Development Programmes (i.e. Providenciales, Grand Turk, South Caicos, and North/Middle Caicos). At the end of the event, each player was awarded a certificate of participation to commemorate the day.
“Our aim is at consolidating a solid platform for the sustainable growth of women’s football within CONCACAF,” said CONCACAF President and FIFA Vice President, Victor Montagliani. “The third annual edition of the CONCACAF Women’s Football Day will be focused on providing further access for younger generations to play the game.”
The Regional Confederation, on Women’s Football Day, also kicked off preparations for the CONCACAF U15 Girls Championship. Each member association, in this regard, was encouraged to host an activity with an aim to train its U15 girl’s team. The Turks and Caicos Islands, however without a complete U15 girls national team, welcomed the opportunity.
“The women’s game is in such a climate that it is critical that the world and regional governing bodies create ready opportunities for the younger generation of females to play the game,” said TCIFA President, CONCACAF and FIFA Council member, Sonia Bien-Aime. “Encouraging free play at the earliest opportunity with young females, will cast a welcome net over these eager players who will not only learn to love the game, but will be the ones to grow football from the early stages to the highest level of competition."
The event was well supported by TCIFA members, TCI’s Minister of Education, Youth, Sports and Library Services, Hon. Karen Malcolm, as well as members of the wider community.
The TCI Women’s National Football Team concluded the celebration with an autographing session.
“The participation of the TCI Women’s National Football Team in the success of this event played a vital role as the young girls were very exited to receive personal autographs from them. We’re hoping that this event would inspire our younger players to endeavor to pursue spots on the national team and other careers in football,” said Candace Hanchell, TCIFA 2nd Vice President and Chairman of Women’s Football.
