Quest -whither Sterling&Aarons if still yard side?

[Stonigut]

Excellent, early days but I must say he looks more fluid that Sterling in his natural running with the ball movements. Sterling seems to have a little hitch and tentativeness in his style which he has worked into his game very well.

You know you can spot fluidity pretty early on!?

can you imagine fluidity, with rapid brain body response with speed, dexterity and skill, we can create that production line.

Karl I can see it! Why can't they build this and just focus on export to top leagues?

If Aaron's is a great success and Sterling leads England deep in Euros the locusts will be coming to set up shop and then all we will get is a tiny little percentage, where if we set up the line and build it correctly we benefit as we will control the source.

[Stonigut]

Karl we not necessarily looking at apples to apples here, we know what Jamaica can produce in the real tangible world of jobs with opportunity, we have seen the evidence already, Marcus Garvey, Bob Marley, Michael lee Chin, the hundreds of reggae, ska, dancehall acts that have put much bread on the table over the last fifty years in our own unique and unusual style that is now copied in every country in the world every country, we have seen comedy acts from Americans on the industriousness of our people, we have seen world beaters in track and field, we have seen top notch guys in business in the USA evolve with opportunity.

What we have not seen is a top notch yard developed football player become a star, we have not seen that yet, the closest we have come is Gardener and Fuller and the only people who will ever remember them over time outside of Jamaica will be the Bolton and Stoke faithful.

We are not producing stars as our production line is faulty, it is not identifying the best talent, it is not developing what it has sufficiently and what comes out is not sufficiently prepared to compete.

This fault, this failing is now especially evident with Sterling and Aaron's as they were born in Ja and lived in Ja for a while, this is not second gen or third gen yardie and if they have very significant success the finger is pointing right back on our failure to develop players of that ilk when those two came straight off the immediate yard tree and we have all the fruit off the tree, and none off the tree that can even compare to those two in the least, how is this possible?

[Karl]

Nothing wrong with having opinions...but you must have along with it knowledge that opinions often do not translate into congruence with facts. The opinionated player must be receptive to given logical argument, working in confines of TEAM goals and while at work (playing) thinking always of what is best for the TEAM.

Somehow the understanding that what is best for TEAM is most often best for self is a truism must become a part of belief system.

Being wrong or incorrect and obstinately refusing to admit same, for a footballer, is a 'death sentence'. Managers and clubs cannot afford such as it does not fit with clubs aims - winning trophies and making money!!!

[Peter R]

What was Fuller's path to the EPL?

[Stonigut]

Very unusual, involving lots of clubs and injury issues just off memory alone, playing for Preston and a Scottish club (hearts) I think are details that jump out in my mind.

[Karl]

This fault, this failing is now especially evident with Sterling and Aaron's as they were born in Ja and lived in Ja for a while, this is not second gen or third gen yardie and if they have very significant success the finger is pointing right back on our failure to develop players of that ilk when those two came straight off the immediate yard tree and we have all the fruit off the tree, and none off the tree that can even compare to those two in the least, how is this possible?

You are correct. ...but you were also correct when you said too many of our talented never 'get a look in'.

My contention is even with that problem of limited access, we are not using that which we have in place - A system that 'sees' our talented at each stage of the education system...has means of testing and nurturing 'cognitive development' but in each case, identifying of talent and testing, we under-utilize...do make best use of that which we already have.

So the problems we experience in maximizing on development of our talented to become top quality footballers is not only about unavailability of enough opportunities to access higher education but even for those who somehow manager to enter 'the next level' there is under-utilization of existing systems to enhance needed development.

[Gamma]

Can manning cup build that Stoni?

[Karl]

Can manning cup build that Stoni?

Why Manning Cup?
Is that the alpha and omega of our earliest of development system?

Why not - Can the school system be the base/foundation on which we build?

If we must...as we must identify the greatest of our talented youngster at an early age then the steps are:
a) Pre-primary

b) primary & preparatory

c) high schools

d) clubs (& as and when they are really created - club academies and stand alone academies)

f) age-group teams - 'local=("c" & "d") & national

g) + late developers - Clubs & national senior TEAMs (Olympic & ReggaeBoyz).

Those are units are already in place - i.e. "a", "b", "c" - minus 'real academies' (Those are to be created). - "f" and "g". We already have in place that base but in imperfect forms and in all cases underutilized...akin to ignored in context of our administrators have not the mental ability to either recognize those our assets or use to which the assets could be put or both.

...as it was said in 2000 on this site "We demand that Jamaica's football development move us to the pinnacle of World Football!". We must demand of our leaders - The excuses or nonsense mouthing that exclaim we have not the wherewithal "to do" must be set aside. - that our present assets be used to our maximum benefits.

We have sat on our backsides for too long. We have buried our 'gifts'=assets. We need to dig them up and put them to work on behalf of "the football" and our nation.

[Gamma]

sorry .. and dacosta cup...

[Karl]

sorry .. and dacosta cup...

OK! ...but focusing on High School 'baall' to the exclusion of earlier years is a mistake. Remember most of our talented youngsters never make it to High School....and that means high probability that tremendous numbers of "Bolts, Blakes, Hydes, Merlene Ottey's, VCBs, "Bibis" and other with superior talent etc." are lost!!!!

We need all our top talents (...and lesser talents) to be given access to cutting edge (or at the very least best) development avenues we can reasonably be expected to provide through use of our leaders and other workers God given advanced mental acumen (...or should I have said, mental acuity? ).

[Stonigut]

From my standpoint the Cup business is a great competition but it is just a showcase, the youths need to have the skill and knowledge long before they hit 7th grade.

Here is what I would propose to start things, at least six part time academies with three classes, four, five and sixth grade together, seven and eight and nine, ten through 13, all programs based in existing institutions (reduce operational cost) run only one weekend per month but on the weekend in particular it is a three day camp, Come in Thursday night after school and stay through Sunday midday, focused on identifying the best physical, emotional and mental talent mix, actual work is on meeting and exceeding pre weekend camp standards such as expectations on completing agility courses in certain tines, such as a 5k, agility courses with simple mental challenges and lastly and most importantly setting tasks and evaluating execution ability, both football and otherwise. In the summers it is a five week camp where the best get re-invited and the focus is on development of playing roles within a few styles of play and just intense technical and skill knowledge and playing bombardment during the five weeks.

During the school year it is about identification process from October through June you invite as many promising players as possible with the objective being to find the best of the best through testing of key performance areas so by summer the best have been identified. This will be a continuous process of testing performance and obtaining results, those that fail will get a chance the next year or through reinvitation if they show promise to redeem themselves if they prepare and train to exceed expectations.

Geographically there are six centers so no one center is more than two hours from any place on the island. So Montego Bay, port Maria, manchioneal Kingston, old harbour, Christiana and black river, roughly so use existing heart academies and high schools with boarding facilities and make arrangements with area hotels on the food side. This use of existing infrastructure minimizes cost and the operational timeline also reduces cost tremendously while creating an infrastructure where families can relatively easily accommodate with a little sacrifice getting the youths to and from these places.

ten weekends per year and one big camp per year across six sites covering eight to eighteen year olds. Potentially each camp per site can cover seventy boys per weekend so potentially each site can see 700 youths across the six sites equals 4200 invites per year. That is just a fundamental start as there are three hundred thousand males between 8-18 of which maybe 20 percent are eligible and have the physical goods and desire to play competitively so sixty thousand eligible and this program may cover 4200, so less than ten percent and there is a need to build an academy squad within each level for which each recruit aspires to join that rank.

Basic idea but it hits sone key areas such as need for an island wide program, which is easy enough to operate, relatively easy access for all, uses existing infrastructure and institutions with a relatively light touch and main use is during off months. That is just a start. Cost of operation could be as low as $3-5k us per location per weekend so $350k us for all the weekly camps and about the same for the summer camp so less than $3/4 million per year could make this work over five years you are looking at $3.5 million us with exports starting in years five to ten, free transfers for first year with an increasing percentage each year worked thereafter.

Goal creating fast, highly skilled players with high emotional and intelligence quotients that can play anywhere and are all well trained in leadership skills.

Can be done.

[Gamma]

karl ...... this sounds awful like a call to arms for an academy?!!! when did this happen?

[Sir X]

Gimmie something real Stoni, this academy thing is a pipe dream.

[Stonigut]

x, that is as real as it gets, that is literally the minimum cost to get something that will attempt to cover the entire island and give the talent that is out there a shot at id and development, at the end of the day the academy is focused really on one thing, it is to produce superior ballers that can be exported in five years and make the academy a profitable thing in ten years. While doing that we are exposing a significant amount of the young talent to leadership, emotional and educational development, ball handling and technical skills etc etc, it cannot be done any cheaper than that and be inclusive.

Maybe the real issue is we can't do anything beyond a one or two year horizon, and I include myself in that so not a hit at you.

This is what it will take at minimum.

[Sir X]

So we are not talking about building academies but using existing centers in the Island ? ...that to me saves huge cost and time , with that as the foundation, it is something to look at .

Again the JFF needs a conference of the football diaspora, this sounds feasible.