'from the power of the community'
WILLEMSTAD - On Saturday 12 January 2019, the neighborhood Barber saw the first session of a series of football training for girls from 6 to 12 years. These 'clinics' will for the time being take place on a monthly basis. The training was given by a group of women who would like to commit themselves to making young girls more active and to get acquainted with football. The focus here is to stimulate more of this type of activity from the strength of the community in the neighborhoods of 'Banda Bou' and then 'Banda Ariba', with attention being paid to the development in the field of sport but also to the many opportunities that football offers at local and international level.
The initiative was started by coaches Danaë Daal and Verda Betrian. Both football players and active on the island with women's football. They were supported by Hassnah Elhage, agent at Elhage Sports Consultancy (Amsterdam), and coaches Laura Kelderman and Sanne Kleijwegt. Laura is a physiotherapist for the Dutch National women's futsal team as well as current player at Wartburgia women's team in Amsterdam and Sanne is coach at the Johan Cruyff Institute in Amsterdam and is also a former football player.
The goal is to choose a different neighborhood each month where the girls receive free training from various (female) coaches on the island. The initiative will be a platform for women who want to contribute to a sports activity in their neighborhood as a player, coach, sponsor and organizer. This was also evident in the various sponsors who, for example, arranged drinks and fruit for the children, including Elhage Sports Consultancy. In addition, the Inner Wheel service club, which is committed to charitable causes on the island, donated to the initiative in which new balls were purchased for the training sessions. 'We have received a lot of support from various people in the community who see this as a positive action, mainly from the women. The interest is there, and we hope to further build on this for the monthly training sessions', says Daal and Betrian. For more information about the next training and in which neighborhood is referred to the Facebook Page: Curaçao Women's Football call the number 560-0709.
