TTFA AND UTT SIGN MOU
TTFA AND UTT SIGN MOU
The Trinidad and Tobago Football Association and the University of Trinidad and Tobago (UTT) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) at a ceremony at the Chaguanas campus today.
The Parties have identified common interests as they pertain to the development of the sport of football and desire to collaborate in pursuit of their mutual and overlapping goals. This MOU is intended to reflect the Parties agreed and collective wishes in promoting the development of football in Trinidad and Tobago.
Present at the signing ceremony on Tuesday were Normalisation Committee Chairman Robert Hadad, TTFA Technical Director Anton Corneal and General Secretary Amiel Mohammed, UTT’s Chairman of the Board of Governors Professor Clement Imbert, President Professor Prakash Persad and UTT’s Senior Manager Sport and Recreation Ian Pritchard.
Pritchard said that the MOU will be an obligation between the parties for advanced research and development to be done during preparation and training, using technology to further develop players. He noted that a scientific approach can also be used for measuring players’ performances and readiness.
He said players, coaches and other staff will also have access to their facilities and expertise, which will include rehab services, human resource capacity, and testing methods for athletes to determine their readiness.
According to Pritchard, there will also be the offering of partial scholarships for students/players on the verge of leaving school.
“Through our High Performance programmes, young players in the TTFA High Performance Programmes will get the opportunity to advance their academic careers through partial scholarships etc. This initiative started back in 2007 when the Sport and Recreation Unit of the UTT started offering scholarships for the advancement of young players.
“And the reason I say partial scholarship is because we don’t offer room and board like universities abroad, but we offer transportation and insurance, as well as some level of financing.”
TTFA normalisation committee chairman Hadad expressed elation at the MOU signing and said the future of T&T football is in good hands, after three years of the TTFA enduring an administrative “category-five hurricane.”
“The magnitude of this situation is quite overwhelming for me. It’s no secret that in three years in this role, it was very difficult to see the sky and sun. But today, peeping through the clouds I see a bright future for all of us, for sport and football in T&T.
“Partnering with the UTT is going to be amazing, and the opportunities are endless. For us, it’s really what UTT has brought to us. We are very excited (about) what the future would bring. Working alongside UTT is going to be tremendous. Keep supporting football and this partnership.”
Chairman of UTT’s board of governors Imbert said athlete rehabilitation remains top priority. UTT is in talks with other stakeholders to increase its reach in this department.
“One of the main pillars in the building of an athlete is the question of rehab. It’s very important because athletes are subject to injury, but also the stresses the muscles undergo. We can have specific programmes in that area at whatever level, whether post-grad or the certificate, that would train people in that specific area.
“That is one of the areas that I see that we need to broaden in terms of providing a holistic development for our athletes.”
Imbert confirmed that UTT will soon be offering, for all sporting disciplines, training for pre-participation assessors. This, he said, would identify, correct and reduce short- and long-term injuries, particularly in new athletes.
“What we have is a lot of young athletes entering sport without any pre-participation examination done, or any testing. We believe that leads to a lot of injury to our athletes, some of which are unable to be corrected later on.
“We would be training these people (assessors) so that (at) those first points of contact with athletes, we’d be able to do the testing and be able to tell if they are ready to participate; if not, what injuries they might be susceptible to. That’s another layer of support that the TTFA can tap into that’s being offered at the UTT.”
UTT president Persad believes technology also plays an integral role in helping improve TT’s footballers. He wants both the TTFA and UTT to begin working on technologically advanced equipment to aid their individual and overall progression as athletes.
“Can we develop some specific training equipment for footballers? Because we have done so for cricket. We are developing a fast-bowling machine and a variety of things. In terms of training, we can look at that.
“We’ll put a mixed team comprised of engineers and sporting people, where we can develop this equipment and test it. Hopefully it will be jointly marketed by UTT and TTFA worldwide. This is something we want to do and we look forward to it.”
See Video of Signing Ceremony Here
According to the MOU, the Objectives are as follows:
1.Seek to encourage and ensure mutual cooperation and support generally between UTT’s Academy of Sport and TTFA’s Academies and National Teams;
1.1. Lend technical support to each other in an effort at ensuring the continued development of football in Trinidad and Tobago;
1.2. Advance coaching education as a priority agenda of this MOU, through mutual cooperation and support generally between UTT’s Academy of Sport and the TTFA.
UTT undertakings will include :
3.1 Where feasible, to make UTT facilities available to TTFA. including classrooms, lecture halls, outdoor courts, auditoriums,
outfields, laboratories and such other venues, rooms or locations at UTT campuses that
UTT may reasonably make available to TTFA;
3.2 to provide educational and training opportunities, through its academic and coaching staff, associates and/or consultants, to coaches, teams and clubs affiliated to TTFA on topics including but not limited to:
(i) national coaching certification (various levels);
3(ii) anti-doping;
(iii) match-fixing, corruption and illegal betting;
(iv) safeguarding and child protection;
(v) health, fitness, safety and risk management;
(vi) sports science;
(vii) ethical values and sport;
(viii) pre participation athletic evaluation;
(ix) taping and bracing;
(x) periodization;
(xi) nutrition and sport performance;
(xii) sports psychology;
(xiii) contractual rights and obligations;
(xiv) intellectual property; and
(xv) financial management and taxation
3.3 to offer scholarships where feasible to those inductees of the Programmes that meet
UTT’s criteria for scholarship eligibility;
3.4 to offer coaching and technical expertise to TTFA’s national teams;
3.5 to facilitate and foster the building of strategic relationships between UTT’s local,
regional and international academic and sporting partners and the TTFA for the benefit
of the TTFA.
TTFA’s undertakings shall include –
4.1 to make TTFA facilities available to UTT. For the purposes of this agreement, “TTFA facilities” shall mean its football fields, courts and the Home of Football at, Balmain, Couva, as well as its administrative offices, conference room(s) and any other location
that TTFA may reasonably make available to UTT;
4.2 to endorse, sanction or otherwise approve of the football tournaments arranged, hosted or administered by UTT on the condition that UTT has satisfied TTFA that it has attained the requisite standards and approvals for the hosting of such tournaments;
4.3 to endorse, sanction or otherwise approve of football coaching certification courses arranged, hosted and administered by UTT in conjunction with the TTFA:
4.4 to provide access, where reasonably practicable, to its national teams, both male and female, including the Under 23, Under-19, Under-17 and Under-15 teams. The access being sought by UTT shall be limited to coaching and training sessions, attendance of such national team members at UTT screening sessions annually, attendance at competitive and friendly matches, and promotional appearances by team members, whether the team members are available individually, in small groups or as an entire team;
