Grenada’s U17 Women’s Team in Preparation for the Tournament
Grenada’s U17 Women’s Team Bypasses Qualifiers Straight to the Concacaf Championship Group Stage
Grenada’s National U17 Women’s team will head straight into the Concacaf U17 Championship group stage scheduled for the first quarter of 2022. This straight ticket to the group stage was due to Grenada’s women’s ranking in Concacaf at position 29, putting the Spice Girls in the top 16 teams.
Overall, 32 teams are participating with the bottom 16 (grouped by 4) competing in the Qualifiers, featuring a round-robin play taking place in August of 2021. Following the completion of the Qualifiers, the Group Stage is scheduled to take place in the first quarter of 2022 while the knockout stage is carded for August 2022.
In the meantime, the Grenada National U17 Women’s team has begun pre training preparation with players’ medical assessments conducted at the Secretariat from June 16 to 23. The GFA also hosted a recent meeting for parents of the U17 players at the Secretariat, aimed at introducing them to the coaching staff, introducing players to each other and providing a forum for parents to ask questions or address concerns. 25 players and 28 parents attended with the latter expressing the belief that the FA should develop player profiles and seek more scholarship opportunities for women footballers.
Additionally, two players participating in the Concacaf Young Leaders Programme Sheniel Thomas and Angelia Chase shared information about their leadership projects with the meeting. Chase is designing and developing a project to improve playing fields and Thomas is working to improve the environment for women in football. Commenting on the work being done in Women’s football, Manager of the U17 Women’s National Team Vall Gordon said, “We want to get more women and girls playing the sport. I believe our efforts, beginning with our U17 team will bear fruit, however, we must invest much more to see greater results.
”Clubs and academies having representatives on the U17 team include Queens Park Rangers, Paradise FC, Boca Juniors, St. Andrew’s Vanguards, RGPF Saint Forces and Just Sports GBSS