The Executive of the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Football Federation (SVGFF), along with key employees, were exposed to training on governance, at the La Vue Hotel, Villa, August 17 and 18, 2024.
Convened by Concacaf, under its Executive Mentorship Programme, the facilitators were Jamaican, Howard Mc Intosh- Head of One Concacaf, and David Sabir, long-standing General Secretary of the Bermuda Football Association.
Some of the areas of focus were understanding the roles and functions of the Executive members; understanding the game and administration; time management; and learning about Concacaf’s good governance and best practices.
President of the SVGFF- Otashie Spring gave a brief background behind the convening of the working session, saying, inter alia, “We would have done an assessment of what we believe to be issues surrounding the state of affairs of our Football in St. Vincent and the Grenadines and among many of the stuff that we would have pinpointed contributing to what we call functioning regression, as we did not hide the faults of the governance teams over the years”, Spring contended.
Believing that his Executive is now better positioned to deliver to its stakeholders, Spring added, “This activity was to assure that our governance team is adequately equipped for the task that is ahead … It is important for us to know who we are, what are our responsibilities, our roles and expectations, and ensure that we are strong in that capacity area… to better position to navigate the potholes.”
Spring implored his Executive to embrace the information and knowledge gathered.
“….. we have to be in the best position to serve those we have to serve. we have to start first being better to do what is best …Over the past two days, not only have we been educated in many ways, as a lot of the stuff presented, were eye openers.” Spring said.
Similarly, Sabir called on participants to face their new challenges with vigour.
“This is a new beginning by all means … This is an opportunity for you to position St. Vincent and the Grenadines’ Football in a space where it should be, where it needs to be, where it must be…I encourage you to bring your best self, because Football deserves the best people … Continue to improve yourselves… Learn as much as you can, reach out and touch people.” Sabir said.
The Otashie Spring led Executive of the SVGFF, was elected to office on March 21, 2024.