Champs setting the example, D-Cup and Manning Cup should

[Karl]

Football at the high school level is diluted talent. You have special mixed with average, mixed with players who will not get anywhere.

Instead of trying to focus on Ardenne, Campion, Mona High, Papine High, JC. Simply put the limited resources to work at Real Mona, where you will gather the best talent from those schools.

That diluted talent argument could be applied to any level of the game.

How many kids are in Hanover? How many at the primary school level would you attach to any one club?

...and the cost to the club?

[Me]

That diluted talent argument could be applied to any level of the game.

How many kids are in Hanover? How many at the primary school level would you attach to any one club?

...and the cost to the club?

Well we are talking at the youth level. It is still better to be applied to the clubs.

[Lazie]

Are you dismissing the TEAM that works together with the athlete to produce that individual track star...and are you dismissing that TEAM of 6 athletes that give us our relay honours?

The football TEAM is more than the X1 that take the field. It certainly reflects the teachering and other back office support.

Think, boss?
What would you put in place of the schools and there physical structures and human capital? How many years and how many billion dollars do you think it would take to build the replacement that covers our island as this does?

...but wait...what dollar value would you put on the physical properties that we have invested in schools specifically used by football? USD2,000,000.00? ...USD4,000,000.00? ...and the investment in human capital? ...and the annual recurring expenses?

...and you are suggesting not building on that figure...whatever the figure you agree is there?

Gwaan dance Karl!!

[Karl]

Mi nuh see what suh hard in that fi dem understand.

http://www.reggaeboyzsc.com/views.aspx?val=the&id=107

[Sensi]

They are all individual athletes with raw talent before they become a part of a team. We need good coaches to teach them the right fundamentals before country comes calling. Jamaica is not Europe, and so we need to structure our program to fit our need and resources. Europe has all the big Track events and the US has the collegiate system, without our Beijing success people would have started to call for more of our athletes to go to US colleges for development. In fact, there are many here who are still saying that our track coaches are not World class. Trust me my youth, the breakdown in our football is right after high school where school youths become responsible adults and must earn a living. High school sports is the only level of competition in Jamaica where the thirst for winning is so great, the rivalries are so intense, and the history is legendary. High schools keep turning out great football talent that the JFF keeps wasting...my question is when will ISSA and JFF combine their resources for the good of the country? In school there are rivalries and history that exist before the kids first day in grade seven...the schools have them for five years in an organized setting, and you are trying to tell me that's not a great thing? We should stop giving the JFF a free pass and hold them accountable...the ball is at your feet JFF, now do something with it!!

[Baddaz]

the breakdown in our football is right after high school where school youths become responsible adults and must earn a living.

High school sports is the only level of competition in Jamaica where the thirst for winning is so great, the rivalries are so intense, and the history is legendary.

sensi, yuh need fi visit more often and share these sensi-ble thoughts wid de forumites...

[Sickko]

Karl actually made a very good point, it is one athlete who go out there on the track most times but it is not one person on that team, as well as the relays, it is certainly not just one person involved.

[Jangle]

Lazie, I just cannot understand why you are so against schoolboy football. As I have said before, ISSA is responsible for schoolboy football not the JFF. Schools are the best nurseries to help develop our football. They already have the infrastructure to develop young talents. A parish league or club may not discover that talented youth in Moccho (sp) or in Guys Hill because he could not find the bus fare to travel the 20 miles to practise with those teams. Manning or DaCosta Cup offers him that chance to be discovered. The JFF needs to jump on the school boy waggon and devise a way to make their structure work for the national teams. They need to get their academy up and running and continue to work with the tertiary institutions to start churning out higher level coaches to put in our schools.

[Me]

The breakdown in our football is not when they leave high school. The breakdown in our football is at the high school stage. Young players who have not been shown basic tactics and lack some simply things that they should be able to do at that stage of their development.

There is a passion at the high school level is great and there is no need to remove the competition, but most of the football resources should be put towards the clubs whose main focus is football, not schools whose main focus is supposed to be the student's education.

[Mosiah]

But I don't have a problem with that! But that is not the schools' problem. The clubs and the JFF need to step up and do their work, but let's not cuss schoolboy football. Right now, if it wasn't for that, we would not even have been in the running for the U-20 WC.

A healthy, vibrant and competitive D-Cup and Manning Cup competion does not preclude the clubs or any other entity from doing their part.

[Lazie]

They are all individual athletes with raw talent before they become a part of a team. We need good coaches to teach them the right fundamentals before country comes calling. Jamaica is not Europe, and so we need to structure our program to fit our need and resources. Europe has all the big Track events and the US has the collegiate system, without our Beijing success people would have started to call for more of our athletes to go to US colleges for development. In fact, there are many here who are still saying that our track coaches are not World class. Trust me my youth, the breakdown in our football is right after high school where school youths become responsible adults and must earn a living. High school sports is the only level of competition in Jamaica where the thirst for winning is so great, the rivalries are so intense, and the history is legendary. High schools keep turning out great football talent that the JFF keeps wasting...my question is when will ISSA and JFF combine their resources for the good of the country? In school there are rivalries and history that exist before the kids first day in grade seven...the schools have them for five years in an organized setting, and you are trying to tell me that's not a great thing? We should stop giving the JFF a free pass and hold them accountable...the ball is at your feet JFF, now do something with it!!

Sensi .. how long are we going to beat our heads against the wall trying to get a different result, but using the same old failed tactic? Other countries are pushing their teens into a professional environment, most of our teens leave schoolboy football lacking the basics. The other night's game Tivoli vs Waterhouse, how many of those players were school boy stars? How many of them show any signs that they mastered the basics of the game?

I am by no means giving the JFF a free pass. The parish associations fall under the JFF, thats why I think the best route is for the parish FAs to take charge of youth development.

[Lazie]

Karl actually made a very good point, it is one athlete who go out there on the track most times but it is not one person on that team, as well as the relays, it is certainly not just one person involved.

Come on Sickko, no one is disputing that the fact is when Bolt and Asafa tales the track, its all on them. When Luton takes the field, he is depending on 10 teammates.

[Mosiah]

There is a passion at the high school level is great and there is no need to remove the competition, but most of the (T&F) resources should be put towards the clubs whose main focus is (T&F), not schools whose main focus is supposed to be the student's education.

I changed Me's quote, replacing football with T&F.

Is that what we want? If it's true for football, why is it not true for T&F?

[Lazie]

Lazie, I just cannot understand why you are so against schoolboy football. As I have said before, ISSA is responsible for schoolboy football not the JFF. Schools are the best nurseries to help develop our football. They already have the infrastructure to develop young talents. A parish league or club may not discover that talented youth in Moccho (sp) or in Guys Hill because he could not find the bus fare to travel the 20 miles to practise with those teams. Manning or DaCosta Cup offers him that chance to be discovered. The JFF needs to jump on the school boy waggon and devise a way to make their structure work for the national teams. They need to get their academy up and running and continue to work with the tertiary institutions to start churning out higher level coaches to put in our schools.

Why does it have to be 20 miles? Each parish could have 3 or 4 coaches that go around the parish in search of talent. The difference you and me, you are all thinking of players at the schoolboy level. I'm thinking to earlier than that .. to maybe 7 or 8 when we could start working with the little ones. Here the stand out ones will be under the watchful eyes of one of the parish coach.

You talk about a youth not having bus fare, isn't that the same for a player who has potential but not comfortable in school?

Tell me, how many football powers rely on school boy football to teach the basics? The fact is this method hasn't worked for us all these years. We get our hopes up about a star in the schoolboy leagues, but once they go on the international stage, we all realize they're not that good.

[Lazie]

The breakdown in our football is not when they leave high school. The breakdown in our football is at the high school stage. Young players who have not been shown basic tactics and lack some simply things that they should be able to do at that stage of their development.

There is a passion at the high school level is great and there is no need to remove the competition, but most of the football resources should be put towards the clubs whose main focus is football, not schools whose main focus is supposed to be the student's education.

Well, for the most part, you and I are on the same page.