FIFA Talent Coach Stuart Yaw McLaren believes the Elite Youth Regional Championship is a step in the right direction and is applauding the Ghana Football Association for such an initiative.
He spoke to ghanafa.org about his observations and the need to continue with such youth tournaments as they help unearth talents at a very young age for the future of women's football in Ghana.
"I'm hugely impressed. I think the talent that's on show has been absolutely fantastic. Equally as important for me, I've seen so many young girls playing with a smile on their face, playing with a real competitive spirit, supporting their teammates," he said.
And you can see from the celebrations at the end of the tournament, not just from the winning team, but from all of the teams, you can see the girls have had a wonderful experience.
"And for me as a talent spotter, it's been invaluable to see just how many fantastic young girls are out there playing football in Ghana. I think what we have to continually strive to do is improve in all areas," McLaren noted.
"I've seen talent, certainly in goalkeepers. I think Ghana has very competent players between the sticks. I've seen very strong, very competitive, composed defenders, midfielders with really good game understanding and good technical ability to play penetrating passes.
"And I've seen forward players who are great in 1v1 situations, goal scorers with good movement and good finishing. So, there is strength there in all areas of the pitch. But I think no matter what we do, we always want to try and improve in all of the aspects," he added.
"So, when we're identifying talent, the number one thing we need to look at is, does the player have a real passion and a real energy for the game? Other aspects that are obviously vitally important are their technical ability. Have they got the right character? So, can they respond when maybe things are difficult for them and challenging? Can they support their teammates? So, these are some of the aspects that have been on display all this week from lots of different players across all of the regions. And I would encourage all the girls to continue to focus on those areas. I think the future is absolutely fantastic.
"And I think there's a huge responsibility from everybody involved in the game to continue to create opportunities for young girls to play, to continue to try and support them and nurture them and give them the best possible coaching and guidance as we can.
"We should continue to give them more opportunities like this to compete in a best-vs-best environment, because that will only challenge them and continue to improve them. So, I think the future of Ghana women's football is so, so bright."
The Elite Regional Youth Tournaments, introduced last year, aim to help identify and nurture talents from the youth levels to equip the various national teams in the future.
GFA COMMUNICATIONS