The Bahamas Football Association recently appointed veteran Women’s Soccer Coach, Cherlindria Thompson, Head Women’s Coach of the revived Bahamas Women’s Football Development Program. With a global and regional focus on the development of Women’s Football, the clarion call is being met with great enthusiasm from players as well as her coaching staff.
Once confirmed to the position, she put together a staff of assistants including, Rhonda Burrows, Jodei Clarke, Gina Stubbs and Ricqea Bain. She is also in the process of setting up a Freeport arm to conduct identification and training of potential players.
The staff is currently putting together a squad of young ladies to participate in the Turks and Caicos Women’s Football Festival being held July 28th-August 3rd, 2021 in Provo, Turks and Caicos. Teams competing will be the home team, The Bahamas, Cayman Islands and the British Virgin Island. The team selected by the coaches to be ratified by the BFA will be announced shortly.
When asked about taking on the responsibility of leading the reappearance of the Bahamas Women’s Football team on the international scene, Coach Thompson had this to say:
It is a very exciting time for Bahamian Women’s Football as we return to the international stage. For me it is an honor to have been given this opportunity to lead this initiative and the fact that I am working with a group of like-minded coaches, whose sole objective is to see the National Team not only participate, but to compete on a high level.
Cherlindria Thompson has been involved in football in the Bahamas since 2002. Thompson began playing in primary school and is a product of the BFA’s Center of Excellence. Thompson captained the Temple Christian High School (TCHS) undefeated championship winning team for three years before receiving a scholarship to play for South Carolina State University, where she was defensive-midfield starting player. Thompson’s early football career also saw her participate in international competitions in England and Costa Rica
Thompson’s first coaching experience came in 2004, as the U11 assistant coach at the BFA’s Center of Excellence, a position she held for three years. In 2012, after returning home from university, she became the head Coach of the Nassau Pirates U7s coed team. Thompson showed her willingness to develop the sport further by coaching in the BAISS Football league with her alma mater, Temple Christian High School for the 2012-2013 season. In an effort to pursue her true passion, which is the development of women’s football in The Bahamas, she along with Club President, Saskia D’Aguilar, founded the Western Warriors girls’ youth team, which began competing in the BFA’s youth league in 2015. With Thompson as head coach, the Western Warriors U19 Girls team became the 2018-2019 BFA Youth League Division Winner and Youth League Champions. She still holds the head coaching position of this Championship winning team.
As a youth, Thompson played in the BFA women’s league, and was a national team player at U20 and senior level. In 2017, she played in and was on the planning committee for the women’s football summer league. Thompson has recently graduated from the University of The Bahamas with a Bachelor of Secondary Education degree with a focus on Physical Education and is passionate about youth development in The Bahamas.
