Haiti coach Shek Borkowski has taken on many challenging positions in his coaching career but arguably none more so than the Haiti Women's National Team. 

Appointed as Head Coach on 1 March of this year, Borkowski has inherited a nation with no professional (or semi-professional) football competition, little developmental structure and one still recovering from a devastating earthquake in 2010. 
shek borkowski

"In terms of football we are a developing nation," acknowledges Borkowski. 

"We have raw talent but there is no professional infrastructure in place to develop it."

"From training, to physical preparation, nutrition, recovery, mental approach; there is so much to improve."

Borkowski has already activated the plan to bring about Haiti's improvement.  This year a majority of the squad competed for FC Indiana in the US WPSL Eilte; a competition which featured former WPS professional teams Boston Breakers, WNY Flash and the Chicago Redstars. 

While results were mixed, the competition was Borkowski's best chance of commencing the steep learning many of his players need to undertake. 

"Individually we have 2-3 good players but collectively we lack the professional approach," he said. "We are improving."

"My players are hungry for success and are willing to follow, learn, to get better and achieve. Haiti as a country is starved for football success."

KimberlyBoulos HaitiThe implementation of his two year plan has not been without its difficulties.  Leaving behind family and a country recovering from 7.0 magnitude quake in 2010, many of his young players struggled initially with the move to Indiana. 

"It made some players home sick," he commented. 

"But now we have identified about 18 players who have the mental toughness required to train and to compete despite adversity."

With the committed in place, the Polish born coach has worked hard to instill a professional attitude and develop a football style best suited to his side.  Described, and at times criticised, as a tough tackling and physical side, Borkowski has shrugged most of it off. 

"We have to be pragmatic and those who have a knowledge and understanding of the game know it. We simply do not have the personnel to implement an open, attacking brand of football," he said in countering the criticism on SportsFeatures.com.

"At the moment we are [our playing style] non descript and are working on developing our way of playing and our style."

 

"Our goals are to improve our collective play, to improve creativity in opponents third."


Months into the job, Haiti has made strides that Borkowski has been pleased with however, the long term goal, qualifying for the 2015 Women's World Cup, still requires much work. 

Haiti sits in the CONCACAF region containing the powerhouse United States Women's National Team as well as Canada, Mexico. While those three teams are out of reach, the fourth qualifying position, newly allocated due to the increase in teams for the 2015 World Cup, is a real prospect for Borkowski and Haiti. 

 

"After that [the top three] it's Costa Rica, Trinidad & Tobago, Jamaica and Haiti. Two of the latter four have a very real chance of qualifying for the 2015 World Cup. I believe Haiti can be one of the two."

"We don't have any outstanding players but most of our girls are 21-22 years old so we are aiming to have a pretty experienced group in 2015."

Haiti take on Australia today in Indianapolis and while it wouldn't be the first time Borkowksi would have orchestrated a win over Australia, or a national team, he concedes that victory is unlikely.  However that is not the end goal. 

"For my players simply to learn how to compete against top international players."

"This being my first international in charge of Haiti, this match will give me opportunity to identify areas for improvement and to see what players can play at this level."