Indianpolis, Indiana -- The presence of the Bahamas Football Association (BFA) at the 2013 National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) Convention has been termed a huge success. BFA Vice President/General Secretary Fred Lunn, on Thursday evening, while touring the many booths that exhibited soccer equipment, attire and updated information, expressed satisfaction with the networking and brainstorming done with some of the world's elite minds of the sport. "This has been a good day. We've covered a lot of ground," he said of himself, Sports Tourism Director Tyrone Sawyer and BFA Technical Director Trevor Rolle. Lunn was indeed in his element at the Indiana Convention Center.
The main objective of the joint venture of the BFA and the Ministry of Tourism was interacting with coaches who hailed from the leading universities, colleges and high schools in the United States and their peers, primarily from the Caribbean and Latin America. "We came to talk with the coaches and see about their interest in coming to The Bahamas for friendlies (matches) and training. This was the first time, the BFA put this event on its schedule. Our technical director, Trevor Rolle, who is a veteran of youth soccer coaching, told us of the event.
He had experienced the convention before and told us of the opportunities it presented. He sold us on the coaches being willing to come to The Bahamas and look at the young players who are ready to go to college. It turned out just as he said," noted an elated Lunn. The collection of coaches networked with read like a who's who of soccer experience. Reference in part is to Phil Rose, the president of Play And Learn Soccer (PALS), considered by some, the most noted soccer specialist in all of Florida; Mike Helleher of Global Image Sports; Chad Little, the director of Soccer Academy at Darlington School in Rome, Georgia; Craig Wallace, a senior staff coach at Gulf Coast Texans; Daniel Gordon, the head boys' coach at the University School of Nashville in Tennessee, and Dave Dresbach, the executive director of Coerver Coaching.
Rose voiced the sentiments of his fellow soccer coaching elites, when he pledged to assist the Bahamian program "anyway I can." "All of the top coaches are here.This is like going shopping. Here for us is everything about coaching, the latest in equipment, techniques and the ideas they are using in training kids." said Lunn. He had high praise for the Ministry of Tourism. "This has been a long courtship but the marriage is now official between tourism and the BFA.
The concentrated attention of the ministry will enhance the growth of soccer in The Bahamas," Lunn said. Sawyer saw the coordination between the two entities at the convention as "a prototype for the future with soccer being able to take advantage of what tourism offers." Both Lunn and Sawyer indicated an interest to return to the 2014 version of the NSCAA Convention, with a booth, promoting The Bahamas and the country's national soccer program.
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