With the covid-19 pandemic forcing a lockdown of the football sector, emerging Fruta Conquerors youth coach Gersild Wright, stated that 2021 will be the year of personal development in his objective of becoming a certified and enhanced tactician.
This was disclosed during an exclusive interview yesterday with Stabroek Sport. According to Wright, 38, “2021 is that year for me and my development. That will be the year once everything goes well and gets back to normalcy. I want to certify myself in that year. Hopefully I get to be a part of the Concacaf D-License course and acquire that certification. This will allow me to get myself recognised. I also want to be able to get back on the field with the club and the national team.”
He added, “The overall intention is the development of myself and making a contribution towards the development of the country holistically at the club and the national level. I think I am on my way of doing that, I am part of the national setup already, I have been there so now it’s about personal progression, development and continuing to do the good work.”
Wright revealed that his coaching career commenced in 2014.
“I used to play the game before in Berbice with Go-Getters FC, and after I went to the Guyana School of Agriculture and started working in Georgetown, it was hard to work and play competitively at the same time, so I decided that the best way to contribute to the sport is by coaching. That is how I started coaching,” he revealed.
“Basically I didn’t know much about it but after I got into it, then I saw the real value of being a coach. Whatever contribution or impact I can make to players and myself as an individual, which is where the entire coaching aspect for me started. I started with Fruta Conquerors, I did a stint with Western Tigers and I also did some work with Soesdyke Falcons. At the national level I was with the U17 Girls team as the goalkeeper trainer,” he added.
Wright, who possesses coaching certification from both Concacaf and FIFA in the goalkeeping department, stated that the current pandemic has impeded his developmental curve.
“It has affected me, not being on the training ground is a joy because it’s what you love, and putting in the work each day. All of that is missing due to this pandemic. The situation has also pushed back the Concacaf tournaments and overall it has affected myself, the players and the entire fraternity,” he declared.
However, Wright revealed that the pandemic has provided the opportunity to research different coaching methodologies and tactics, which will be utilised and implemented upon his return to the field. “I have basically been researching and keeping myself up to date on what’s going on. It’s all about the research and reading, trying to learn new things which I will be implementing back on the training ground,” he ended.
