Late last year, in the middle of a long run of Guyana-based programs, one of our participants posed a question.

“Coach? What country are you going to next?”

To tell the truth, I hesitated and I was unsure what to say, but I threw two out there just in case. Because hey, for kids, a messy answer is always better than not giving one at all.

“I think Barbados! But I also want to go back to somewhere in Africa,” I had answered.

Little did the little guy know, I was already hard at work planning out country number 65 on the Around the Worlds roster. Actually, even prior to my arrival in Guyana I was plugging away at some prospective community partners on the small Caribbean island. As early as October 30, 2024, I was already sending out cold emails to schools and football academies. The first to reciprocate interest was a school located in downtown Bridgetown, St. Mary’s Primary School. The second was RF Prime Football Academy, a football club centrally located on the island, in nearby St. James.

When schedule planning had run its course, RF Prime would be the first on the list, which I scheduled for a Tuesday session with their U7, U9, and U11 age groups. I was excited, coordinating things closely with Richard Forde, the coaching lead for this trip. I also set aside brand new pairs of both Nike and Hummel shorts for all participants. Plus, I brought a couple new footballs for the club, obviously!

After a few rest days upon arrival, it was finally time for football. Believe it or not, I hadn’t run a session since late November so clearly I was itching to get back into it. Richard scooped me up near my home base in Oistins and we made our way north towards St. James, and the team’s home ground at Hoyte’s Village Playing Field. On the way, he got me acquainted with Barbados’s football scenes: the good, the bad, and yes, the ugly.

Apparently, the country was home to an abundance of riches, boasting the highest amount of playing fields per square mile with some neighborhoods having as many as four all within walking distance. The problem was those fields were largely unused. If they were used, it was hardly ever for football, as cricket usually takes the priority interest. There wasn’t much passion for football, and that fact came with good reason. Lots of promising young youth simply can’t see a pathway to a future in football. Whether it’s from the top down or the bottom up, the youth to pro pipeline is well, at best, an undefined one.

You’ll see lots of kids, girls especially, ditching football to pursue cricket, knowing they can make $80,000 a year playing for the West Indies.

Could they make it to the pro ranks as footballers? There’s no doubt in Coach Richard’s mind they could, but they’re looking after their futures and until there’s a consistent, sustainable pro league (especially, in this case, for women) on the island, their options will always be limited.

Taking note of Richard’s teams hovering around the U7-U11 range, and knowing his expertise was in the lower half of that, I posed a question.

He leaned back and smiled. “And man, these kids never miss a week! They’re always there,” he said. “Plus, Stephen, you know what we’re seeing here is that these kids, the younger ones on our U7 side – they’re COVID babies. They grew up during COVID. So we can really see that need for attention, for physical affection. They may come off as rowdy or misbehaved, but they really just want to be SEEN.”

“Hey Coach, watch me do this!” …you’ll hear that ringing through your eardrums all practice, he warned.

Finally pulling up to Hoyte’s Village, the kids were out in full force, already rocking some matching RF Prime Football Academy tees. Coach Richard introduced me to the kids, and then, to the coaching staff. A lanky white fella approached me, wearing the same signature green coaching polo as Richard.

“I’m Coach Paul. It’s good to meet you, Stephen. I read your bio and it’s incredible what you’ve done for the game,” he said, sweetly.

I echoed his praise, telling him the motivation behind ours. “We all have that dream right, Coach? I mean, I’m not sure what level you reached yourself, but we all dreamt of one day being a pro baller and now, it’s about guiding kids, guiding that next generation, through that same dream,” I said, with a smile.

Lastly, I broke my side off into headers.

“Who here likes headers?” I asked, polling the group.

Everyone’s hands shot up.

“Perfect! Who here likes goalkeeping?”

The hands stayed lifted to the sky.

“Ooh me, Coach, me!” they yelled.

“Well, you guys are in luck…” I said, my voice quieting to a whisper. “Because today, we’re going to be working on both!”

“Coach can I be goalkeeper?” said one boy.

“Coach, please, me first!” yelled another.

I told them to be patient, for they would all have their chance. Meanwhile, our only goal scorer on the day, a tall girl named Valentina, was quick to sing her praises.

“Coach, I’m still the only one to score!”

I smiled. “Yes, Valentina, great job!”

Coach Richard breaking things off into a full scrimmage, I retreated to the wings to take over Coach Paul’s training session. Setting up our circular ball control drill, while demoing it for the boys, I had some time in between to chop it up with the man himself, Coach Paul. He described to me a major challenge in the Barbados football scene. Speaking of the boys, he mentioned how they have high spurts of intensity, mainly when they’re on the ball, but then you’ll see a noticeable dropoff in energy. Sadly, Coach Richard had described a similar dilemma in the adult categories too, even in the pro ranks!

Coach Paul, at times forced to coach down to the kids (as a high-pedigree coach himself), didn’t sweat it though. A retired UK police officer, he understood the bigger picture.

“Stephen, I’m not sure where these boys’ football journey will take them, but I know one thing.”

“Some days they struggle to grasp high-level football tactics and techniques. But i can still teach them about teamwork, right? About the importance of working hard. About respect. Things that so often translate off the field and into daily life,” he said. “Plus, life is bigger than football. And hey, if one day, years and years down the road, one of these boys comes up to me and says, ‘hey Coach Paul, I still remember those life lessons you taught me’ then hey, that’s enough for me.”

As I blew the ball control drill to an end, it was clear that those life lessons were very much in play, mainly – respect.

“Excuse me sir,” a young boy decked out in all black said, extending his hand towards mine for a shake, “thank you for the training session today.”

I ran back towards Coach Richard to catch the end of the young ones’ scrimmage. He blew his whistle and circled the kids up, so we could sing happy birthday to one of the players, a young lad wearing a full Barcelona kit. The team still relatively new, and team chemistry even newer, Valentina caught me in a moment of laughter.

“Wait, what’s his name?” another boy asked, referring to the birthday boy.

“His names Lamine, see? It’s on the back of his jersey,” said Valentina, sounding it out “La-meen, ya-mall.”

I chuckled, “Close, but not quite, Valentina!”

“Happy birthday young man,” I said, leaning towards our little Barca starlet.

“Everyone go and give Coach Stephen a handshake and thank him,” instructed Coach Richard.

As we made our way off the field, I continued to talk to Coach Richard about footy. While not coaching for RF Prime, he’s actually part of a government-led national sports council, that visits schools in order to coach coaches and provide resources. As a result, Coach Richard was more than familiar with the venue of our second Barbados-based session at St. Mary’s Primary. Basically, though, we could’ve done something big through the council.

I shrugged it off. “I’m sure it would have taken a long time to turn it around…” I told myself.

“Honestly Stephen? No, cuz we work quick here,” answered Coach Richard.

“Ah shoot, Coach! Lie to me next time! Say it’d take 6 months, minimum!” I said, as we shared a laugh.

Hopping back in the car to make our way towards Oistins, Coach Richard continued talking about his experiences in the game.

He spoke about attending a women’s football conference in Milan, learning from leaders of thought and leaders of the game like Jill Ellis (former USWNT coach), and a bunch of coaches from past editions of the Women’s World Cup.

“Honestly Coach, one of the hottest investments these days is women’s soccer. The viewership keeps rising and look at some of its growth even outside of the states. Like Coach we do a lot of work in Mexico and their league is booming, they’re consistently drawing 50,000 fans to their championship finals – it’s crazy!” I said, myself, no stranger to supporting the women’s game.

We continued to speak about the struggles and triumphs of our field.

“It’s tough work Coach, but this work at the grassroots – it matters. We can only do our part and hope the next group does theirs. But we’ll keep doing it, we gotta. Little by little,” I said.

“Little by little,” he responded with a nod.

Not a single word more was said, and not a word more needed to be spoken. For what’s already understood, need not be said.