Tweet
FOOTBALL COACHING IN JAHMEKYA
Having spent over 25 years actively engaged in local football, and being the first Jamaican football coach to earn a PhD in Cultural Studies at the University of the West Indies, Mona, I feel compelled to make a studied contribution to the national dialogue on the state of Jamaica's football within a post - 2010 World Cup context.
One of the reasons (association) international football [soccer] is attractive both to players and spectators is the "freedom of movement" it often allows and expresses.. Attack and defense flow naturally into each other and players can be almost unrestricted in their movements on the field of play. Unlike individual sports such as boxing or golf, football is a team game, and team games demand a high level of physical coordination, cooperation, interpersonal skills, conformity , and the inevitable co-ordination of eleven individual efforts into a combined Team Effort which demands some planning and hence a certain amount of restriction.
FIFA founded in 1904, with more member States (200+) than the United Nations, set out to organize and govern the world's most popularly played (and watched) game. In 1930 FIFA staged its first World Cup tournament in South America with Uruguay the home team securing the first hold on the prized Jules Rimet Trophy. Colonial/Pre-Independent Jamaica played its first international match in 1925 against Caribbean neighbor Haiti, with favorable results. In 1934, the second World Cup was staged in Europe with Italy emerging as winners. In the same year Englishman Stanley Rous succeeded Sir Fredrick Wall as Secretary of the English FA.
In the following year 1935 Rous instituted Football Coaching courses and trained Coaches to emerge from these courses. These Coaches would move into the schools and football League clubs, enhancing the skills of both amateurs and professionals.
Football Coaching was established as a legitimate and desirable activity in English League clubs by the late 1950s. Between 1950 and 1966 Brazil's World Cup Coaches had been amateur players who studied in reasonably good schools and had gone through PE university courses. Former JFF deputy president Lincoln 'Happy' Sutherland reminds us that, "with few specialist football clubs during the 1950s into the early 60s, playing football in Jamaica was based on the natural talent of the players...and with a national team playing only a few games each year, there was not much emphasis placed on coaching."
On the other hand, Jamaica’s rich history and outstanding international successes gained by local track and field athletes and coaches have demonstrated to the world the level of professional skill and scientific knowledge embodied in Jamaican Track coaches. Subsequent to the 2008 Beijing Olympics there has been an increased international demand for Jamaican athletic coaches as demonstrated by Glen Mills, Stephen Francis, et al. This then begs the question: While local football players continue to ply their trade abroad and attract the eye of overseas clubs, why is there no international demand for Jamaican football coaches? How do/did Jamaican football coaches emerge?.
Having spent over 25 years actively engaged in local football, and being the first Jamaican football coach to earn a PhD in Cultural Studies at the University of the West Indies, Mona, I feel compelled to make a studied contribution to the national dialogue on the state of Jamaica's football within a post - 2010 World Cup context.
One of the reasons (association) international football [soccer] is attractive both to players and spectators is the "freedom of movement" it often allows and expresses.. Attack and defense flow naturally into each other and players can be almost unrestricted in their movements on the field of play. Unlike individual sports such as boxing or golf, football is a team game, and team games demand a high level of physical coordination, cooperation, interpersonal skills, conformity , and the inevitable co-ordination of eleven individual efforts into a combined Team Effort which demands some planning and hence a certain amount of restriction.
FIFA founded in 1904, with more member States (200+) than the United Nations, set out to organize and govern the world's most popularly played (and watched) game. In 1930 FIFA staged its first World Cup tournament in South America with Uruguay the home team securing the first hold on the prized Jules Rimet Trophy. Colonial/Pre-Independent Jamaica played its first international match in 1925 against Caribbean neighbor Haiti, with favorable results. In 1934, the second World Cup was staged in Europe with Italy emerging as winners. In the same year Englishman Stanley Rous succeeded Sir Fredrick Wall as Secretary of the English FA.
In the following year 1935 Rous instituted Football Coaching courses and trained Coaches to emerge from these courses. These Coaches would move into the schools and football League clubs, enhancing the skills of both amateurs and professionals.
Football Coaching was established as a legitimate and desirable activity in English League clubs by the late 1950s. Between 1950 and 1966 Brazil's World Cup Coaches had been amateur players who studied in reasonably good schools and had gone through PE university courses. Former JFF deputy president Lincoln 'Happy' Sutherland reminds us that, "with few specialist football clubs during the 1950s into the early 60s, playing football in Jamaica was based on the natural talent of the players...and with a national team playing only a few games each year, there was not much emphasis placed on coaching."
On the other hand, Jamaica’s rich history and outstanding international successes gained by local track and field athletes and coaches have demonstrated to the world the level of professional skill and scientific knowledge embodied in Jamaican Track coaches. Subsequent to the 2008 Beijing Olympics there has been an increased international demand for Jamaican athletic coaches as demonstrated by Glen Mills, Stephen Francis, et al. This then begs the question: While local football players continue to ply their trade abroad and attract the eye of overseas clubs, why is there no international demand for Jamaican football coaches? How do/did Jamaican football coaches emerge?.
Comment