The current executive of the St. Kitts-Nevis Football Association has vowed to develop women’s football and create opportunities for more women players in the Federation to thrive in the sport. Women’s football on the international level is growing in leaps and bounds, and opportunities exist for players to get scholarships to play for colleges and universities around the world while pursuing studies.
Players like Christie Ann Mills and Zona Marshall have earned such scholarships and have benefited from these opportunities. Tarvia Phillip went on a brief stint in Iceland to play for a professional women’s team in 2021, along with Canadian-based St. Kitts and Nevis women’s player Brittney Lawrence. “It was my first time so it was like a learning experience. I didn’t get a chance to play but the training and how to actually be a professional player was good. Hopefully I would get a next opportunity,” Phillips said.
For Christie Ann Mills, who is studying on a football scholarship at the Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, USA: “The style of play has been a lot different from back home. It’s a lot more team oriented than individualized so just getting to know the culture up there has been a big change. But I am adjusting now so thank God for that.” Coach Earl Jones is confident that the foundations being built are raising the standard of Women’s football in St. Kitts and Nevis: “Yes we have some players based overseas, and yes we will see how best we could fit them in, because the group here is good. Once we have a good group on the island, training together, playing regularly, this can only mean the improvement of the players here.”