Earlier this week, the Football Federation of Belize called in 116 youth athletes to a football camp at their Belmopan Headquarters. But, they're not there for a workout; they're being scouted.

A coach from UCLA is visiting to do just that, assessing local talent for possible additions to the soccer teams at UCLA.

This scouting coach arrived in Belize yesterday evening, and he got a chance to interact with the players who make up the Under 18 and Under 20 Men's National Teams.

With video provided by the FFB's public relations team, here's what he had to say about what qualities he's looking for in the players who may have a chance to be recruited to the university:

Ryan Jordan - Men's Soccer Coach, UCLA
"I was invited by the Football Federation to come and look at the youth national team programs. I have an opportunity to interact with the coaching staff and observe the players in training during this initial training camp."

Reporter
"So, tell me a little bit about how the experience has been so far."

Ryan Jordan
"It's been wonderful; beautiful country, driving up to the capital and then coming directly to the fields to start watching some of the training sessions, so a pretty productive day so far."

"Anytime we're doing recruiting, certainly, we're looking at players to try to find out what the total evaluation and quality of the individuals would be. You're looking for individual athletic qualities, certainly players' abilities to have good tactical insight, and you know, clearly pick players that have a good technical quality to execute the decision-making in the game. So, whether it's an event in Southern California, or it's somewhere overseas, [we're] obviously looking to see if we can see the combination of those qualities in players so that we can make evaluations of what their potential is, what their current standing is, and where that could potentially take them."

This morning, Coach Jordan observed the workout sessions of the Under 23 Men's National Team. Tomorrow, he will be observing the Under 17 and Under 20 Women's National Teams.

Channel 7