Hillhouse Appointed Football Association VP

Former national women’s footballer turn coach, Akeilah Hillhouse, has expanded her horizon, taking on the role of administrator after accepting an invitation to serve at the highest level of football on the local front.
Hillhouse, a former coach of the Freeman’s Village Scorpions and the first female to play the role of head coach in Antigua, has been appointed Vice President of the Antigua & Barbuda Football Association (ABFA).
She replaces former ABFA vice president and former president of the Potters Football Club, Michael Carr, who tendered his resignation late last year.
General Secretary of the ABFA, Gordon Derrick, explained that Hillhouse will serve for the remainder of the executive’s four-year term, which ends in May this year.
“As you know the constitution allows the President [Everton Gonsalves] and the executive committee to appoint somebody, so Akeilah Hillhouse will fill that position until the election,” he said.
It is expected that Hillhouse, who was also the first female to play in the FA’s top flight when she represented the SAP FC back in the 90s, will contest the upcoming elections.
Derrick also highlighted the formation of a new committee, “Women In National Sporting Organisations” or “WINSO” which he said will seek to create opportunities and highlight the achievements of women in football.
“There is a women’s committee that has also been formed which is in keeping with FIFA. And you have Mickel Brann, Lisa Abraham (former president of the Drag Racing Association) and all the women on the executive committee will also sit on that committee as ex-officious because they are already on the executive committee; so they will also sit on that and it’s about really looking and getting into the operations of how the women’s side of the sport is handled,” he said.
Hillhouse will also serve on the committee alongside Niya Richards, Rhea Jarvis and other noted women in sports.
The ABFA’s election is slated for May 13 at the Multipurpose & Exhibition Cultural Centre at Perry Bay.