The Gambia Football Federation (GFF) on Sunday concluded a national talent search for regional Gambia in the form of a two-day football jamboree at the Soma Mini Stadium in the Lower River Region.
The event brought together 240 school-going kids selected from the URR, CRR, NBR and hosts LRR as a follow up to the GFF grassroots football tournament for boys and girls between the ages of 12 and 15.
At the closing of the programme, on Sunday July 14, Lead Supervisor and Technical Director of the GFF, Mr. Sang Ndong while addressing the kids also reminded the participants of their mission and purpose of the event. He noted that promoting grassroots football is a major priority of the football leadership and thus all steps to develop it would be supported by the stakeholders as well. He urged coaches to be patient with the kids hence “development process cannot go without patience.”
The TD further emphasised that the GFF will not condone age cheating just to satisfy some preferred players or to join in competitions to qualify. “This is strictly developmental and we have a syndrome as a nation that people want to develop talent and win matches simultaneously. It doesn’t work that way. There is no short cut to success. We have to be honest, truthful and work hard to develop a well-established team if we want to win matches,” he said
He described the two-day event as very successful while assuring the participants of its continuity to further enhance ability of the young players and monitoring them at their various categories.