CIFA Welcomes Technical Director for Women’s Football

By Stuart Wilson

Former Technical Director of Trinidad and Tobago Football Association, Dion La Foucade has been appointed Head Coach of the Cayman Islands Football Association’s  (CIFA) Women’s National Football Teams.

A native of Trinidad, the new coach comes to the post in the Cayman Islands - which has been without a dedicated coach for some time - with years of experience in women’s football and talent development.

During the press conference to introduce Coach La Foucade, he noted that it was a pleasure to be invited by CIFA to take up the mantle in relation to women’s football and pointed out why the job resonated with his values.

“Upon speaking with them, they indicated that they wanted to take the programme to another level, in terms of developing the young people of the Cayman Islands, which is the most important part of what we do.

“Why you do what you do is crucial and that is what attracted me to the Cayman Islands,” he noted.

“It’s about touching young people’s lives. They come for football but learn about life,” he added.

With 37 years of experience in coaching, Coach La Foucade explained that his focus was not just on the senior women’s team but that he would be looking at players from the ‘grassroots level’ up and the plan is for the programme to function like a conveyor belt to bring talent up through the ranks.

“Everyone deserves a chance and we want to give players the hope and the chance to make the National Team,” he remarked, adding: 

“We cannot guarantee winning, but what do you view as winning - pride for country, raising the bar of the when, where, how and why and inspiring them is important. Sport is a great vehicle for building better citizens.”

As a result of Coach La Foucade’s international exposure, it is hoped that the Cayman Islands’ women’s team will also be exposed to more competition, which CIFA officials explained is an integral part of Cayman’s development.

“With the right investment in our programme we will get to a level where other teams in the region will want to play us,” noted the officials on hand for the press conference introducing the new coach.

Part of structuring the revamped approach to Cayman’s team development is identifying those women who are involved in several sports and working with the other sports teams to see how talent can best be utilised.

“We should not be fighting for players because different sports do help and so it will be a an ‘everybody in’ approach. We can work together,” said Coach La Foucade, who pointed out that it may be a matter of communicating with other coaches to work around commitments for other required activities for multi-sport athletes.

General Secretary for CIFA, Mr. Marcos Tinaco, explained that friends in the United Kingdom had first mentioned Coach La Foucade as a possible candidate for the coaching job in Grand Cayman.

“That was three months ago and our follow-ups gave us great assurance that he would be a plus for us. We are very impressed. We also believe strongly in spirituality and that was big part of his resume.

“We know that he had much better offers but what we are doing is from the heart and that is what attracted him to us. He really believes in helping young people,” noted Mr. Tinaco.

CIFA is hoping for a long-term contract for the new new women’s coach, with a view of 3 to 5 years. 

Currently, Coach La Foucade is also pursuing a Post Graduate Diploma in Sports Management and has completed several coaching certifications at the FIFA and Concacaf levels.

Additionally, he has worked as the coaching director at FC Boulder (USA), the technical director of La Foucade Soccer Clinic, (Trinidad and Tobago), and the Head of Trinidad and Tobago National U17 Male Team.

Coach La Foucade will be responsible for the day-to-day running of the CIFA Women’s National Programs which will involve training and preparing teams for international competitions.

He will also be charged with creating a sustainable women’s football development programme that will encompass women’s football at all levels.

With the recent success and growth of women’s football in the Cayman Islands, CIFA officials said, the Association strongly believes the time has come for women’s football to be appointed a designated coach.

“The Association is pleased to announce the appointment of Coach Dion La Foucade as the person who will be responsible for women’s national football technical activities in the Cayman Islands,” noted CIFA officials.