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Schools as academies - cricket sets the example
Clubs, parishes need help, says Bennett
BY GARFIELD MYERS Editor-at-Large South-Central Bureau
Sunday, April 20, 2008
HE is pleased that Jamaica has made a start towards professionalism by setting up the semi-pro Super League for top clubs and parishes.
But Jamaica's senior team coach, Junior Bennett, warns that the desired results won't be forthcoming unless there are radical steps to improve the situation of the clubs.
In fact, Bennett is contending that the circumstances surrounding the clubs and parishes are so limiting and the resources so lacking that many promising young players actually "regress" after leaving school.
Bennett, a former Jamaica Under-19 coach who served for 28 years as coach at many-time schoolboy champions, St Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS), where he still maintains a consultancy role, cited that school to emphasise his point.
"At STETHS a boy can go to the nets as soon as classes are over and work on his game for the rest of the afternoon every day of the week. In the clubs we find that a young player who leaves work at 3:30 to 4:00 pm then has to get to his club has very limited time to practice.
"Then even when he gets to the ground, the net facilities are so inadequate that he is lucky if he gets 15 minutes to bat. Yet we expect him to go into the match and bat for four hours; that makes no sense," he said.
At STETHS, he pointed out, the St Elizabeth parish team, the school's Under-19 as well as under-15 teams were able to train at the same time on any given evening.
"The truth is that a few of the schools are better equipped than the clubs. Also we have to find a way to get employers to understand that players need time to practice. The fact is that players need jobs and they can't afford to lose their jobs, so we need to get these employers on board.
"If we don't find a way to improve the situation with the clubs and to bring the employers on board then we're going to continue with this same problem whereby many of our players are regressing rather than progressing when they leave school," said Bennett, who guided Jamaica to this year's Carib Beer League title and the KFC limited-overs title late last year. The team also placed second in the cash-rich Stanford 20-20 in February.
Bennett, who expects Jamaica to triumph in the five-day Carib Beer Challenge Final against Trinidad & Tobago at Sabina Park later this week, said the problems afflicting Jamaica's clubs and players extend to the rest of the Caribbean.
"Players around the Caribbean aren't learning to bat long," he said.
He recalled that of the four Carib Beer games played in Jamaica this season, three ended in three days and the last, against the Windward Islands at Alpart, was over in two days although 21-year-old Andre Fletcher made a second-innings century for the Windwards. Jamaica won all four games.
BY GARFIELD MYERS Editor-at-Large South-Central Bureau
Sunday, April 20, 2008
HE is pleased that Jamaica has made a start towards professionalism by setting up the semi-pro Super League for top clubs and parishes.
But Jamaica's senior team coach, Junior Bennett, warns that the desired results won't be forthcoming unless there are radical steps to improve the situation of the clubs.
In fact, Bennett is contending that the circumstances surrounding the clubs and parishes are so limiting and the resources so lacking that many promising young players actually "regress" after leaving school.
Bennett, a former Jamaica Under-19 coach who served for 28 years as coach at many-time schoolboy champions, St Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS), where he still maintains a consultancy role, cited that school to emphasise his point.
"At STETHS a boy can go to the nets as soon as classes are over and work on his game for the rest of the afternoon every day of the week. In the clubs we find that a young player who leaves work at 3:30 to 4:00 pm then has to get to his club has very limited time to practice.
"Then even when he gets to the ground, the net facilities are so inadequate that he is lucky if he gets 15 minutes to bat. Yet we expect him to go into the match and bat for four hours; that makes no sense," he said.
At STETHS, he pointed out, the St Elizabeth parish team, the school's Under-19 as well as under-15 teams were able to train at the same time on any given evening.
"The truth is that a few of the schools are better equipped than the clubs. Also we have to find a way to get employers to understand that players need time to practice. The fact is that players need jobs and they can't afford to lose their jobs, so we need to get these employers on board.
"If we don't find a way to improve the situation with the clubs and to bring the employers on board then we're going to continue with this same problem whereby many of our players are regressing rather than progressing when they leave school," said Bennett, who guided Jamaica to this year's Carib Beer League title and the KFC limited-overs title late last year. The team also placed second in the cash-rich Stanford 20-20 in February.
Bennett, who expects Jamaica to triumph in the five-day Carib Beer Challenge Final against Trinidad & Tobago at Sabina Park later this week, said the problems afflicting Jamaica's clubs and players extend to the rest of the Caribbean.
"Players around the Caribbean aren't learning to bat long," he said.
He recalled that of the four Carib Beer games played in Jamaica this season, three ended in three days and the last, against the Windward Islands at Alpart, was over in two days although 21-year-old Andre Fletcher made a second-innings century for the Windwards. Jamaica won all four games.
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