Team Bahamas maintainstraining schedule

Sun, Oct 9th 2011, 08:10 AM

A more physical approach to training is being taken by the head coach for the junior women's national soccer team, Daria Adderley, in preparation for the second round of the upcoming regional tournament.
Since securing a spot in the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) Women's U-17 qualifying tournament, almost two months ago, members of the national female squad are practicing with the junior male team. The friendly matches, one of which was held on Saturday, helps to toughen up the girls who are still awaiting word on when the next round will take place. Even though improvement has been seen by Adderley, the long wait might pay its toll.
"I think what is happening is they are just getting a little bit tired of waiting, waiting and waiting," said Adderley. "To some degree it is affecting them because the longer we wait, the harder it might become. We have to take into consideration that they are student-athletes, and they will have to complete school work. Their school exams and mid-term breaks are coming up. They will need to focus on that, not the waiting, so we were hoping that the second round was going to be held in September, like it originally was supposed to be. However, the last group didn't end until last week. We were hoping that something else came up, but nothing did.
"The girls, they check every day on the website, looking at the line-up on CONCACAF and nothing. You know when you are in preparation for something, and it was suppose to be three weeks out of your last round, sometimes you get to a point where you get discouraged or you over-train. They've been training now as a unit for two years. They were at it for the entire summer and still going three days a week, now that school has started. Mentally, they are getting a little frustrated and physically they just want the second round to come so that they can go and play."
Two shutout victories over Bermuda and Antigua and Barbuda, gave The Bahamas the overall victory in Group A. The Bahamas earned six points over the two matches which started on August 14. The two games were played at the Roscow A.L. Davies Soccer Field at the Baillou Hills Sporting Complex. The Bahamas won 10-0 over Antigua and Barbuda, and 2-0 against Bermuda. They had to await the winners of the remaining groups.
Since then, it was reported that Trinidad and Tobago won Group B, Guyana scored four points and took Group C, and Jamaica captured Group D. The first round of play for Caribbean countries ended on October 5, with Trinidad and Tobago landing a win over St. Kitts and Nevis.
Since no date or venue has been selected by the executives of CONCACAF as yet, Adderley has resorted to playing with the junior male team, wanting to keep her crew sharp.
"They are ready. They have gotten a lot better from August," said Adderley after analyzing their Saturday's match with the boys. "They have stepped up their games and have gotten a lot more physical. Technically, they are getting better. They are a whole lot faster, so it is just us here waiting. It is unfortunate that we can't get any word on when the actually date is and where it will be held.
"I am hoping that the wait does not affect their play. In fact, I don't think it will happen because we are trying to keep them prepared. This tournament, like last time, before we played in the first round, they went away to play two friendly matches in Florida. When they came back, they were sharp, they were on point. Now we are hoping that within the three weeks of us coming back from Florida, we will be off again playing in the second round. If not, then we have things in place to make sure that we are ready. Hopefully an international friendly match can be available for us to play in. That will help us when we get to the second round."
The national squad will leave this weekend to play a team out of Florida and the Cayman Islands Under-20 girls.

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