Sarah Green in her element in the UK
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Freeport, Bahamas - History will be made at this year’s
Sir Jack Hayward Grand Bahama Soccer Camp, now in its seventh highly-successful
year.
It will feature the event’s first
full-time professional female soccer coach. Her name is Sarah Green
and she works for the London-based Football Association as part of its
drive to take kids and turn them into international players of the future.
The camp’s 180 attendees split roughly
equally between boys and girls but Sarah is at home coaching both and
in fact leads mixed classes on a daily basis.
She follows a long line of top-line
coaches the camp has attracted from the UK, the country where what is
the world’s biggest sport was invented, including leading former international
players and media experts as well as full timers. She will be
working alongside Jamie Godbold who is returning after being lead coach
for the last two years during which he has made himself a firm favourite
with local children.
Jamie Godbold
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Jamie is currently nursing a broken
jaw, sustained scoring a goal for his league-leading team, for whom
he has been leading scorer for several years, but will be fully fit
for the camp.
Sarah is already well-qualified but
is also well on the way to completing the range of courses which will
lead to her earning the highest level coaching license granted by EUFA,
the international governing body for soccer. She is also a player,
having turned out regularly for the ladies team of the famous UK pro
soccer club Nottingham Forest as well as being assistant director of
its girls’ centre of excellence. She still plays midfield for
her local team.
Her 12-year career includes, as does
Jamie’s, time spent coaching in the US but it will be her first visit
to the Bahamas and she is very excited. Speaking this week
from the city of Leicester, where she is currently working, she said:
“I am really looking forward to working with the local coaches and
the children. I am also really looking forward to relaxing on
the beaches afterwards!”
The camp runs from June 21 until June
25 and as usual will be hosted by the Freeport Rugby Football Club on
East Settlers Way, using the extensive playing and practice pitches.
Organisers are expecting the usual turnout of almost 200 kids for many
of whom it is the high point of the year.
The price is being held at $175 for
the fourth year in a row, reflecting the tough times people are experiencing
on the island. For that the youngsters get lunch, fruit morning
and afternoon, six hours of coaching a day as well as lunchtime swimming
for those whose who want a cooling dip, two full sets of uniforms,
and a monogrammed camp T-shirt, making it the best value summer camp
package – and about a third of the cost of similar events in the US.
And any surplus is ploughed back into developing youth sport on the
island.
Registration forms can be found on
this website (link below) and are also available from Town and Country in Yellow
Pine Street, Freeport, and Animale, at Port Lucaya. They can also
be had by emailing
derek.archer1@gmail.com