SportWORKS - Making a Difference & Becoming Different

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The Sport Leaders Abroad Program
sends qualified and experienced Canadian
sport leaders (administrators, coaches, officials, etc.) to assist their counterparts in their fields/sports of expertise in countries around
the world.
 

Matthew Greenwood

Leader Bio: Originally from Leicester, England, Matthew spent many years coaching and developing soccer in the UK. In 2007 he moved to Toronto, Canada to take a job with the Ontario Soccer Association (OSA) where he began as a special projects coordinator. Matthew is now the Manager of Club Development for the OSA.

Date of Placement: March 23-25, 2012

Placement Details:Matthew's first day in Trinidad was spent helping  to rebrand the elite women's football competition known as the Women's Football League (WoLF). There had been two previous years of inactivity and prior to that inactivity some bad blood had built up. Matthew helped tie the rebranding into a media launch which was only two weeks away. The organization agreed that further work would need to be done to deal with the underlying history of the problem. Prior to departing, he put a strategic plan in place for future growth of the league.

The second day was spent with the Fyzabad United Football Club on the south of the island. Matthew made a presentation to a group of 25 male and female attendees on Club Development and where opportunities exist for assistance. The Club spent the afternoon working through the 10 Strategic Outcomes that had been identified by a working group at the end of 2011. The work achieved to date, similar to WoLF, was exceptional and delved into some excellent themes for growth. The position moving forward will be for the working group to continue to engage a wider audience in the Club.

Placement: 
Fyzabad United Football Club and South-end Football Club, Trinidad & Tobago
Hometown: 
Leicester, England
Education: 
University of Leicester, Masters in Science, Sociology of Sport & University of Worcester Bachelor of Science, Sports with Business Management
Groups have enthusiasm and a knowledge of the challenges they need to address. From a Sport Leader perspective this is easy to guide from a distance and plenty of support/best practice/feedback can be provided but it is essential that discussion happens, that groups are engaged and then next steps are laid down within the community. I feel that I have put the framework in place for the community to be successful in doing this moving forward.