IN order to continue supporting the growth of the women’s game, Andrew Edwards, chairman and technical director of Genesis Football Academy, has announced that the academy will conduct a regional competition targeted at introducing young girls to the game in a competitive atmosphere.

The tournament, which is a mini-version of the Concacaf Women’s Gold Cup, will take place on March 2 at Brooks Park in Manchester, starting at 8:00 am.

The tournament will feature 12 teams representing the countries taking part in the Concacaf Women’s Gold Cup. It is an under-14 competition and will be condensed into a one-day event, with each team playing each other once.

The teams are placed in three groups of four and the games will last for 30 minutes (two periods of 15 minutes).

The winner will receive a trophy that is as close as possible to the actual Concacaf Women’s Gold Cup trophy, as well as individual prizes and medals for the first-, second-, and third-place teams.

Edwards said he expects the tournament to provide a positive experience for the girls and inspire them to pursue football at a higher level.

“It’s really and truly to expose young girls to the game in a competitive environment that replicates a real tournament that they can aspire to go to in the future,” Edwards told the Jamaica Observer.

“The hope is that we will find another gem, like how we were able to find Davia Richards way back in 2016 when we did a similar tournament. It wasn’t for girls only as it was a co-ed tournament and, at the time, we did it in Waterhouse. She played in it for Maverley Primary at the time and now she’s one of the national strikers.

“So we have motivation, basically, to do this thing. And we feel as though the fact that Concacaf has now gotten to a place where they’re naturally having a Gold Cup for women means that we believe that this is a great opportunity to inspire young girls and probably find a future Reggae Girl. Even if we don’t, what this does is [allow] for the girls to become more active and to see the opportunities that exist within the game of football,” Edwards further reasoned.

Edwards said that all teams participating will receive sponsored gear from Fit4Her, using their Omel brand.

“It’s a company that has been very active in the Jamaican female football space recently. They have a lot of programmes coming on and they will actually be in Jamaica for a good period of the month of March, in conjunction with Total Soccer Development.

“So, they conduct a series of clinics, and coaching education, and player development programmes. Genesis is one of the local partners and we are very excited that they have come on board to support the project the way that they have, and we’re looking to build that particular relationship as we look to become a force in the development of women’s football in our country,” Edwards explained.

Despite not having secured any sponsors, Edwards said he is hopeful and grateful for the donations received thus far.

“To be quite honest, we have not gotten a single sponsor to date; what we have had are donations from a few people individually — and we are extremely grateful for those people.

But we have reached out to a lot of sponsors, or potential sponsors, with no positive response so far but we’re still very hopeful because we do have a few gaps that we still need to fill. In any case, I think we have covered the main things that we need and therefore we’ll be able to go ahead, even if those gaps are not filled. We just really and truly would prefer to be able to put on a project without the possibility of walking away indebted to anyone,” explained Edwards.

Vincent Barnes, owner of the Proven football team, says he supports Edwards’ initiative to create a platform for the youngsters to thrive.

“This is an excellent introduction for young ladies to experience a real-life scenario of what it is like to play genuine soccer. I think it is incredibly encouraging for young ladies to wear a shirt that represents their nation.

“My squad is rather young so I anticipate they will have fun out there. I don’t expect much from them other than to compete and understand the game and we’ll take it from there, hoping to be a stronger team next year,” Barnes said.

Dwight Smith, Kemps Hill’s head coach, said he was encouraged by the decision to launch an age group tournament to help young players grow.

“The open school league really doesn’t do fair to the younger girls since you’re 14 years old and playing against 19-year-olds. We have occasionally lobbied ISSA to hold an age group tournament, even an under-16 one.

“We now have an age group tournament [the Girls Gold Cup] where the young ones can showcase their abilities, and the fact that they are playing among their peers is quite encouraging. I believe we should have more competitions like this, which is one of the reasons I am entering the tournament,” said Smith.

GROUP A – Merl Grove (Argentina), Bishop Gibson (Mexico), Genesis (USA), Kemps Hill (Dominican Republic).

GROUP B – Reinas (Brazil), STETHS (Colombia), Alphanso Davis (Panama), Mile Gully (Puerto Rico).

GROUP C – Proven (Canada), Glenmuir (Costa Rica), Black River (Paraguay), St Jago (El Salvador).