Davis: New Under-15s lack basic skills

[Karl]

Davis: New Under-15s lack basic skills

Published: Sunday | August 11, 2013


Fabian Davis

Ryon Jones, Staff Reporter

Jamaica's under-15 head coach, Fabian Davis, has expressed disappointment with how underdeveloped the youngsters coming into the national set-up are at this age.

Davis, who was appointed to the post of national under-15 coach in May, will depart the island today with a 22-member contingent for the inaugural CONCACAF Under-15 competition set for the Cayman Islands between August 14 and 25.

"It is a development tournament, first time CONCACAF is doing this and it is something great for this age group. It is a learning process for these guys, including myself, and they are upbeat about this tournament and we are just trying to minimise our weaknesses and maximise our strengths.

"They are learning the basics when they come here, and I was just hoping that the coaches from the schools and the clubs would take it a little bit more serious, because when they come to the national programme is when I have to be fixing everything."

Instil discipline
The team has spent two weeks in camp prior to today's departure during which Davis has been trying to instil personal and tactical discipline into the youngsters.

"We have been doing a lot of team work, working on the chemistry of the team, team shape, and the whole organisation with the ball, without the ball, and basically the discipline of the team and the attitude of the players," Davis said. "The guys that are here have a lot of passion for what they are doing, and if I can continue to guide them in the right way then we are going to be all right in a couple of years. But it is going to take a lot of work with the right coaches in place to help these youngsters develop in the right way."

Davis, who is a retired national senior player, is aiming to get his young charges to play with a flair that recent national teams have lacked.

"Hopefully, we can go into this tournament and make them (players) relax and play with the real reggae rhythm that has been missing over the years from our senior reggae (Boyz) team and let them have fun doing the right thing out there," Davis said. "They need to try and transfer the things that they are learning here back to their schools and their clubs and this football that we have at this level, which is the youth level, can change."

ryon.jones@gleanerjm.com

• Contingent

Officials:
Peter Reid - Head of delegation
Fabian Davis - Coach
Aaron Lawrence - Assistant Coach
Dennis Howard Bell - Team Manager
Omar Folkes - Equipment Manager

Players:
Jahvanni Grant, Stephen Malcolm, Graeme Reid, Jaazeil Thompson, Paul Young, Jevoun McKellar, Jourdain Fletcher, Deshane Beckford, Krishna Toi-Leigh Clarke, Peter Campbell, Nicholas Nelson, Clive Jarrett, Rhyan Knight, Andrew Josephs, Peter Lee Vassell, Justin McMaster, Charles Grant, Akeem Chambers

• Jamaica's match schedule:

13/08/13 - Jamaica vs Grenada

15/08/13 - Jamaica vs St Lucia

16/08/13 - Jamaica vs Belize

18/08/13 - Jamaica vs Dominica Republic

20/08/13 - Jamaica vs Guatemala

23/08/13 - Semi-final

25/08/13 - Final

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/2.../sports12.html

[Bricktop]

Good one Fabio...get your excuses lined up early...lol...

[Twan]

yeah ..he is coaching u14, u16 and u19 before his appointment, then why him suh surprised ?

[OJ]

He is right. It shows here we dont get it. The results is not a factor here and should not matter. What is key is that these players are past the so called golden age of learning for the sport without the proper technique and that is alarming. That is a problem that need to be fixed. 8-12 are crucial years. Fabian is saying what everyone in first world football knows.

[Bricktop]

Academies would fix the problem...but we want to reinvent the wheel

[OJ]

yes it would but its even simpler than that. The federation needs to mandate parish level centre of Excellence for players ID at 12 year old. Prior to that the players should be in a club setting from 6-12 where they are playing 3v3 and 7v7.

[Bricktop]

club/academy...same ting...anything but a PE coach training them at that age...

[Karl]

With our ABUNDANCE of TALENTED youngsters a few academics will never allow for the island's potential to be realized.

We have never been a people satisfied with half measures save with our politics/politicians...so let us replicate the efforts of our track & field administrators and volunteers and give all our talented youngsters a chance at development to fullest potential.

It is only the asses or the 'badminded' who wish not to develop as many of our talented as possible...wallow in half measures...seek to 'keep down' others of our talented save for a select few. ...or as Jawge keeps saying it is hold over from the mental slavery which has scarred some of us in a way that sees us looking at our own through jaundiced eyes.

[Dunny]

With our ABUNDANCE of TALENTED youngsters a few academics will never allow for the island's potential to be realized.

We have never been a people satisfied with half measures save with our politics/politicians...so let us replicate the efforts of our track & field administrators and volunteers and give all our talented youngsters a chance at development to fullest potential.

It is only the asses or the 'badminded' who wish not to develop as many of our talented as possible...wallow in half measures...seek to 'keep down' others of our talented save for a select few. ...or as Jawge keeps saying it is hold over from the mental slavery which has scarred some of us in a way that sees us looking at our own through jaundiced eyes.

The blueprint:- by Dunny

The blueprint for Jamaica's football development
For Jamaica's football to develop there are a number of issues that needs addressing. The key areas are quality coaching, a clear pathway for success, grassroot participation, and a structure that allows the continuous development of players from junior to adult football.

The JFF,ISSA and the Ministry of Education should work together to
build a solid foundation for young players.


1.A clear pathway for player development that takes players from when they start at under 10's to the end of their careers. A model for player learning. The suggestion is the 4 corner model.

The 4 corner model explained:-
A.The Technical Corner
B.The Physical Corner
C.The Psychological Corner
D.The Social Corner

a. The Technical Corner is sport specific and includes basic skills understanding of the game and the formats in which they are coached.
These include

Un-opposed technique practices
Un-even sided skills practices
Even sided games.

b. The Physical Corner is both generic and sport specific. Generic issues include agility, balance and co-ordination and are best developed early in life, these apply to all types of athletic sports.
Sport specific issues include functional movement with or without the ball, body strengthening, speed and endurance as well as fitness elements linked with speed and endurance, nutrition and maintenance factors including hydration, diet, rest and recovery to fuel and regenerate the body.

c. The Psychological Corner is about each individual player, their personality, behaviour and how they learn. How they learn the game and how to perform, how to compete and cope with the many situations during a game and coping with everything the game throws at them.

d. The Social Corner is about external influences. How the impact from others behaviour can affect them positively or negatively. Creating a social and learning environment for each individual and monitoring how that individual react and respond.
All four corners are closely intertwined and never operate in isolation.
All coaches should base their coaching methods through all the age groups
to mirror this 4 corner approach

2. Quality coaching:-The JFF should run coaching courses and make it compulsory for every schoolboy coach to have at least a level 2 certificate. all community grassroot coaches should have at least a level 1 coaching certificate and coaching seminars should be run and attended prior to the start of every schoolboy football season, attendance for these seminars should be compulsory.

3. The JFF should start a major all Island campaign to get children under the age of 10 playing football through community projects and at primary and prep schools, it is important that every single child in the country is given the opportunity to play sports. I suggest using former and current players as ambassadors to go around schools and communities I am sure the likes of John Barnes, Andy Williams, Tyrone Marshall, Fitzroy Simpson etc would be willing to help to promote the game.

4. A football structure designed to produce quality players and also one to keep the whole island involved, the structure is also designed to give young players regular competition against their peers. It is important that a competitive edge is maintained for players to improve technically and tactically. Schoolboy football i believe is one of the more positive things about Jamaica's football so this strucure is designed with this in mind.


The Structure

The Elite Development Programme

Each Parish to have 4 representative teams at under 12's, Under 14's Under 16's and under 18's. Kingston and St Andrew 3 teams and St Catherine and St James would have 2 teams each taking into account the amount of schools and size of the Parishes. This would give us 18 teams in each age group. Every team will be run on an academy style basis with the best coaches that are available. The teams would be based at the centre of excellence for each Parish. The compilation of these teams will be made up of the best players in each particular parish, the scouting will be done during the school competitions. Training sessions for these groups would be held twice per week, transportation to and from training sessions are to be taken care of by the Parish Associations through the JFF elite development programme. The competition for each age group would be on a league basis with the teams playing each other on a home and away basis. The League would commence in December of each year. The junior representative teams for the country would be scouted from these competitions.

5.The Jamaica football Academy

The JFF should build a base that houses EVERYTHING to do with the JFF, from offices to training centre for all the countries represetative teams. All the national coaches should be based here and this is where the teams are prepaired for competition. This would also be the permanent base for the countries under 20 team, these are the best players who have graduated from the parish under 18 league and would play in the KASAFA major league to keep them in competition. The structure should be designed so it can run hand in hand with the education system, and all coaching and player development should be associated with the 4 corner model. "The Pathway for success".

[Bricktop]

Yes karl...we should reinvent the wheel...afterall Jamaica is the most unique place on earth...we cannot follow established blueprints

[OJ]

I think the academy plan is solid but the problem is academy can be private intiatives where it becomes pay to play so it a process of who can pay more than who can play. The struggle for me is not the ingredients we have lots of people who can do that and understand proper coaching processes. waht we dont have is structrue, how do we identify and nurtue a bunch of 6 year olds at the parish level, or less than that the community level. Harbour View may have a program but Reno most likely dont run a recreatinal program for 6 year olds in monpellier.. why is not their immediate interstest so what happens it fall on to competions at the primary and U14 levels to reinforce poor techniques and bad habits. See in Jamaica the competition is more important to some than the development.

[Bricktop]

well the goal of the academy should be to develop players to be sold...no pay to play thing...so if it is a private initiative they have an incentive to provide the best instruction possible...

[Assasin]

I can't see the problem. Provide program and guidance and get a pool of volunteer.

[OJ]

Thats an interesting take and one that requires discussion. A private Academy yes will develop players to be sold but if you asked Hview it should be develop some to be sold, some to play for the first team. If you asked the Jff it is to play for the national team and if you ask a community base org it will be to develop athletes to be good human beings. some will be sold other only to play at the H.S level and some to play clubs. So you see that what is meant by the purpose who is doing what... i dont think all private academies work but a mixed of some along with centre of excellence run by the federations at the parish levels.

[Bricktop]

Our federation can't run anything...develop the kids in the private academies and filter them into the national youth teams...from there we sell them to European clubs...evreybody wins...