The Turks and Caicos Islands Football Association Hosts College Identification Camp at its National Academy
The Turks and Caicos Islands Football Association (TCIFA) continues to foster the personal, professional, and educational development of young football players here in the Turks and Caicos Islands. In doing so, the FA endeavors to continually organize College Identification Camps, created to expose student athletes from national under-17 and under-20 programmes who are interested in pursuing a college degree, to coaches from colleges and universities from around the world- particularly the United States of America and the Caribbean. The College Identification Camp allows these players to showcase their talents and skills, and provides them with the opportunity to be awarded scholarships. The 2023 Camp takes place on January 20th to 22nd at the TCIFA National Academy in Providenciales.
All four existing TCIFA island programmes were represented. Thirty-six male and twenty-one female players from Providenciales, Grand Turk, South Caicos, and North/Middle Caicos are participating. Sessions were led in three categories; i.e. exhibition games, training sessions and informational sessions.
Drew Burwash, Head Women’s Soccer coach at the Lindsey Wilson College in Kentucky USA, joined the TCIFA on this initiative. Burwash recently completed his 20th season as the Lindsey Wilson College Women’s Soccer Head Coach in 2022. During his 20 previous seasons as head coach of the program, Burwash led the Blue Raiders to 4 NAIA National Championships (2004, 2006, 2012, 2014), 2 Runner Up finishes (2003 and 2015), 16 Mid-South Conference Regular Season Championships and 16 MSC Players of the year. In 2021, he guided the Blue Raiders to a share of a Mid- South Conference Regular Season Championship with a 10-1 MSC record. The term also maintained its streak of national tournament appearances (20 straight). Burwash is a 3-time NAIA National Coach of the year (2004,2006 and 2014). Under Burwash’s direction, Lindsey Wilson Women’s Soccer amassed a 340-70-31 overall record. He currently ranks 3rd on the NAIA Women’s Soccer all-time winningest active coaches list, with 340 wins.
Gefte Blanc, Assistant Men’s Soccer Coach at Allen Community College in Kansas, was also in attendance. Blanc displays quite a history as a footballer, having played for Miami Edison Senior High School, Weston Academy in Miami FL, Stony Brook University (a D1 School located in long Island, NY), Cloud County Community College, and Newman University whilst living in the United States of America. Blanc made his coaching debut in 2016 with the Wichita Rojos, a youth club organization affiliated with Sporting Wichita Academy. After graduating from Newman University, Blanc was appointed assistant coach for the men’s and women’s soccer teams at Cloud County Community College, where he previously played in 2012-2013. During this time, and for the first time in history, the Cloud County Community College women’s football team advanced to nationals and Cloud went 10-2 in conference and 15-5 overall. On the men’s side, they were 10-0 conference and 14-3 overall. Blanc currently possesses Goalkeeper 1 and 2 licenses.
On behalf of Southern University, a Division I historically black university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Gian McCann represents his institution as Assistant Coach of the Women’s Soccer Programme. He expressed enthusiasm with regard to his participation in the event- “We were extremely excited to attend this showcase because of the high quality of Caribbean student-athletes both on the field and in the classroom, and the growing level of the Turks and Caicos youth system on the girls’ side.”
From the Caribbean, representatives from the Munro College also contribute the weekend’s activities. In attendance were legendary veteran head coach, Patrick ‘Jackie’ Walters, who is one of the island’s most successful schoolboy football coaches, and Chadroy Elliott, assistant coach. Providing additional support were Mark Smith, Principal of Munro College, and Dr. Chris Stokes, member of the board of directors of Munro College and chairman of the school’s sports committee. Dr. Stokes is also chairman of the NCS Financial Services Group which operates in the Turks and Caicos Islands.
As part of the College ID Camp partnership, NCS Financial Services Group has joined forces with interCaribbean Airways in a commitment to funding up to six full scholarships for Turks and Caicos Islands youth footballers to attend Munro College through its loan’s subsidiary, NCS eLoans.
TCIFA President Sonia Fulford commented, “The TCIFA College Identification Camp serves as a launching pad for aspiring college football players, provides a platform for impactful connections, and is a big part of the college recruiting process. We are truly grateful to all the institutions involved, as we provide this space as an important opportunity for players to gain next-level recognition for their talents and skills. The partnerships that we are building with these institutions will dramatically increase our capabilities of bringing visibility to our local talents. It is with great pleasure that we welcome the Coaches and Staff to our National Academy and look forward to them coming back to scout our players”.
At the end of the Camp the Coaches were impressed with quite a few of the male and female players and discussions are in progress with the hope of finalizing scholarships for these individuals.
