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BORN IN the middle of the coronavirus pandemic, Reinas Academy opened their doors built on the dreams of five players. Five years later, the football academy now stands as one of the leaders in women’s football development in Jamaica.
Neo Oxford, founder of Reinas Academy, spoke with The Gleaner about the time leading up to the academy’s inception, recalling his time as head coach of the Meadowbrook High girls’ football team in 2020.
Having gone undefeated throughout the schoolgirl football campaign, the pandemic saw their season grind to a halt.
Inspired by the drive of five of his players, Oxford began his own football academy to help create a pathway for the group.
He credits these five players, Tyesha Nelson, Shadine Rutherford, Venessa Stephenson, Lillian Clarke, and Dreanna Thaw, as co-founders of Reinas Academy.
“Reinas started in the midst of the worst time for many, during the COVID 19 pandemic,” he said.
“We had five girls that I personally thought had what it took to go all the way through scholarships. So, myself and these five girls, we thought of a team name, team colours, team motto and all that, and got to work on Monday, July 13, 2020.”
Five years later, the academy now stands as one of the top girls’ football academies in Jamaica, and is home to several youth national representatives.
Oxford said their humble ambition of providing an environment for girls to enjoy playing football has now grown into something he had never imagined.
“Our goal at Reinas was really to become an environment where girls in Jamaica could start their football conquest earlier. We wanted to create a space for them where they felt safe learning the sport amongst girls their age,” he explained.
“Did we expect to be as successful as we have been? No, but all our five founders are now in college overseas, we have a total of 19 national representatives on our squad, and, believe me, there are more to come.”
Despite multiple national representatives and playing games overseas against other Caribbean clubs, Oxford said the greatest achievement of Reinas Academy over the past five years has been the Reinas Cup competition.
Divided over several year groups, Oxford said the Reinas Cup stands as their flagship product and a symbol of their core value, allowing girls to play football in a safe environment.
A huge accomplishment
“What we have been able to do, which is also a huge accomplishment, is to get girls playing the sport. We have the recently concluded ISSA Construction Hummel International Reinas Cup, an under-20 competition with over 150 girls participating.
“We have our under-14, under-15 and under-17 competitions, which allow girls from across the country with teams such as Proven Academy from St Thomas, Wifi United from Portland, Genesis from Manchester, Next Gen from St Catherine, along with Kingston Football Academy and Ballaz from Kingston, to invest in female football because they want to compete.”
“In Reinas’ five years of existence, we have ensured over 500 girls had the opportunity to play football.”
For Oxford, the future for Reinas Academy is bursting with opportunities and he hopes it can continue to impact the shape of Jamaican women’s football.
He hopes to build on their connections with other female football programmes across the island, for the betterment of the national teams.
“We have a lot of things in the pipeline currently to ensure that we impact more female players, and, when we say impact, it’s not only at the academy but through tournaments and workshops and the assisting of forming other female programmes around the country,” Oxford explained.
“It’s not just what Reinas will look like in five years, but, because of Reinas and its beliefs, what will Jamaican female football look like in five years? And it’s looking extremely positive.”
English (US) ·