Achieve Your Goals Women’s Event Attracts Over 100

[September 9, 2017 – Harmon, Guam] – Over 100 women braved rainy conditions to take part in opening week activities of the 6th Semiannual TakeCare Achieve Your Goals Women’s Soccer Event Thursday evening at the Guam Football Association National Training Center.

Registered participants engaged in various skills stations on the pitch with GFA’s licensed coaches and at the end of the night, many completed an hour of classroom instruction in the event’s Introduction to Soccer licensing coaching course. Participants elected to take part in the skills festival, the coaching course, or both in the new, six-week format concluding Oct. 12.

“This is actually my first time joining the event and I really like it so far,” said C.J. Cayanan, one of the event participants who selected to take part in both modules of the event.

“For the skills festival portion, I like that we’ve all been split up into different groups and how we’ll switch coaches each session to learn a different skill. I like being able to focus on one skill per session. I joined the event’s coaching course as well to see if coaching is something I’d like to do in addition to playing the sport.

“I actually didn’t decide to join until (Wednesday); I had heard about the event but I was a little hesitant since six weeks is a lot of time and effort. But, when my friend said she was going, I made the decision to register and so far, so good,” added the Dededo resident, who currently plays for Femme Fatale in the GFA Women’s Intermediate 9-A-Side Recreational League.

Skills sessions included basic goalkeeping, passing, shooting, change of direction, and defending, among other topics. Participants who stayed for the coaching course were introduced to GFA’s Long-Term Development Plan, as well as GFA’s different coaching pathways and basic coaching principles. Coaching course participants will be following the GFA “D” License curriculum, which also includes an introduction to the Laws of the Game and how to run basic training sessions. Each session may take place in a classroom setting, on the playing pitch, or both.

“I’m really pleased with the number of women who’ve registered to take part in this event and particularly the coaching course,” said Belinda Wilson, GFA Technical Director. “It shows that there is a substantial interest by women in coaching and that we’ll need to organize more of these types of introductory courses in the future.

“Over the past few years, the number of registered female players in Guam has grown exponentially with the addition of recreational leagues and I hope this trend continues in all aspects of the sport – coaching, officiating, and administration. By getting involved in the sport through an event like TakeCare’s Achieve Your Goals, we’ll be in a good position to meet our targets set in GFA’s four-year strategic plan,” Wilson added.