“In St. Kitts we take our football very seriously. We want to make sure all six selected for training in Sunderland are from St. Kitts” – Peter Jenkins, President of the St. Kitts Football Association

Basseterre, St. Kitts, January 23, 2008 – At a surprise meet and greet at the Robert Llewellyn Bradshaw (RLB) International Airport in Basseterre St. Kitts, Sam Condor, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Tourism, Culture & Sports, welcomed John Barnes, Head Coach of the Digicel Clinics: “I want to commend Digicel for this initiative and as a fellow footballer welcome John Barnes to our beautiful island. We are happy that you have been able to represent the Caribbean over the years and thank you on behalf of the government and people of St. Kitts.

Also among the welcome delegation were Peter Jenkins, President of the St. Kitts Football Association, Lloyd Lazaar, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Tourism, Culture & Sports, Dave Conner, Director of Sports and Digicel Clinic participants Ehjason Henry and Allanje Rogers, members of the National U-2- team.

Barnes, impressed by the warm reception he received explained what he will be looking for from the St. Kitts U-20 team: “Football is a reflection of life. Dedication and discipline are important in both football and life and your attitude will determine your altitude. To make it as a top quality footballer you need something additional to skill and that is what I’m looking for. During the two days of training I will work closely with the coaches who will know the true character of each player.”

Kittitians passion for football was evident on the first day of the clinics as the football association sent 10 coaches to observe the two-day training at the Warner Park Football Stadium this includes the National U-17 and U-13 head coaches as well as the National Girls U-17 head coach. Youth Director Lenny Lakes explains: “We all want to see what we can learn as well. We feel we can all benefit from the Clinics and use what we see here to further enhance all our teams and make St. Kitts football international. So far we notice that Mr. Barnes concentrates on attitude, application of skill, concentration and decision making. We are all impressed so far and we will devise a new training plan based on these Clinics which will be used in future.”

The St. Kitts Digicel Kick Start Football Clinics will end on Thursday January 24 when the National U-20 team play the Digicel Village Superstars at the Warner Park Football Stadium at 7PM.