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Schoolboy football is not player development
Published on December 31, 2019
Machel TurnerStatus
Schoolboy football is not player development
Sports Management Professional
The 2019 ISSA Schoolboy Football season recently ended after providing the majority of the country with its chance to see the future of Jamaican football display their skills. Congratulations to all the trophy winners this season- Clarendon College, Jamaica College, Kingston College, and especially the first- time schoolboy trophy winners B. B. Coke High School and St. Catherine High School.
As the season progressed there were a number of thoughts that swirled through my head which I felt needed to be discussed in relation to the development of high- level football players in Jamaica. The extremely disappointing showing of the national U-23 squad in the second round of Olympic Qualifying with a team full of former stars at the schoolboy football level just months before the start of the season served as a background.
JFF’s mandate to develop talent, not ISSA’s
In previous articles on other platforms I have called for a re- think of the schoolboy football competition format in a bid to improve the level of all the players but especially the best players, as competition is an integral part of player development along with the coaching they receive. However, the fact is that ISSA’s mandate is not to develop footballers or the sport in Jamaica. They are simply organising a competition amongst high schools across the nation as an extra- curricular activity.
Instead, the job of player development is that of the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) who must:
Educate coaches so that they can teach players skills and guide their learning and execution of the various aspects of playing football well
Implement programmes for player development and talent identification
Operate (or oversee) competitions from grassroots through to the elite level of the game that allow players opportunites to test their skills and improve them Unfortunately, the organisation has neglected many parts of its duty for too long. As a result, players have not been put in the right environments for them to maximise their talents and make us what a lot of us in Jamaica (for a variety of reasons) want to be- a GOOD football country.
Long Term Athlete Development
According to the Long- Term Athlete Development model adopted by governing bodies of sport across the world to guide their player development strategies, the 14-18 age range is where an increased level of tactical, psychological and physical training is introduced, equipping players with the attributes they need to compete on the professional stage if they so desire.
The LTAD model also shows that at this stage of development, players’ competition time should increase as they are playing more consistently all year round. Increased competition time exposes them to a wide variety of pressures and competitive situations which force them to constantly use and improve the skills they have learnt so far.
Unfortunately, there are some elements of schoolboy football that run contrary to this advice developed by professionals through various studies.
Two points to correct
Firstly, if development at this stage should lead to increased tactical knowledge, the consistent use of sweepers by schoolboy football teams is a major problem. This outdated tactic is no longer in use in modern football when teams play with 4 defenders and is not used in our national team. So why is it being taught to young Jamaican defenders in the most critical phase of their sporting development on such a wide scale?
The sweeper practice is so rampant that there are teams which would appear to set out with a flat back 4 but do have one of their central defenders play with a deeper starting position than the other as a de- facto sweeper.
Now the majority of the questions on this front have to be answered by the coach educators and coaches who seemingly are unwilling to spend time teaching defensive concepts properly so that the need for a bailout defender is not necessary. However, I will also argue that if the JFF was operating a competition with the intended outcome to develop certain profiles of players to fit a clear football philosophy they would be able to influence how that competition operates tactically. This has been done in bigger countries than ours.
It is not a leap to make a correlation between this poor tactical and mental training at a crucial development stage and the drought of quality centre back options available to coach Theodore Whitmore for the Reggae Boyz. It would be interesting to know the Technical Director and Technical Committee’s interpretation of that.
The length of the season is another factor that goes against LTAD guidance and likely hinders player development. More competition across longer periods provides more opportunities for skills, techniques, tactics to be understood and executed more competently.
It is for this reason that in serious footballing countries the youth players play in 8-10 months leagues. We are competing against countries with competition frameworks specifically aimed at developing the best players while our best players are taking part in a glorified extracurricular school competition.
How do we plan to compete consistently when such a chopped- up competition structure is behind standard practice amongst our competitors?
New competitions
Issues like these mean we are stuck in a place where the main source of competition at the most critical stage of player development is not fit for player development. The necessary solution is the creation of new national competitions (U16 and U18) for the island’s very best players (300 or so while the others continue on the SBF stream). They would be found through a competent Talent Identification network island- wide. However the necessary force needed to make such a radical change is outside of the capacity of the JFF leadership who will not be able to withstand the pressure from some quarters.
The fact is that if we are to reach our collective desire as a footballing nation, the potential of young players has to be unlocked more consistently. The integration of international best practice is necessary to develop and operate programs and competitions that make such an outcome a priority.
Otherwise let’s just stop the pretending and say that we are simply content with participating in international football and not actually competing at any serious level.
Published on December 31, 2019
Machel TurnerStatus
Schoolboy football is not player development
Sports Management Professional
The 2019 ISSA Schoolboy Football season recently ended after providing the majority of the country with its chance to see the future of Jamaican football display their skills. Congratulations to all the trophy winners this season- Clarendon College, Jamaica College, Kingston College, and especially the first- time schoolboy trophy winners B. B. Coke High School and St. Catherine High School.
As the season progressed there were a number of thoughts that swirled through my head which I felt needed to be discussed in relation to the development of high- level football players in Jamaica. The extremely disappointing showing of the national U-23 squad in the second round of Olympic Qualifying with a team full of former stars at the schoolboy football level just months before the start of the season served as a background.
JFF’s mandate to develop talent, not ISSA’s
In previous articles on other platforms I have called for a re- think of the schoolboy football competition format in a bid to improve the level of all the players but especially the best players, as competition is an integral part of player development along with the coaching they receive. However, the fact is that ISSA’s mandate is not to develop footballers or the sport in Jamaica. They are simply organising a competition amongst high schools across the nation as an extra- curricular activity.
Instead, the job of player development is that of the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) who must:
Educate coaches so that they can teach players skills and guide their learning and execution of the various aspects of playing football well
Implement programmes for player development and talent identification
Operate (or oversee) competitions from grassroots through to the elite level of the game that allow players opportunites to test their skills and improve them Unfortunately, the organisation has neglected many parts of its duty for too long. As a result, players have not been put in the right environments for them to maximise their talents and make us what a lot of us in Jamaica (for a variety of reasons) want to be- a GOOD football country.
Long Term Athlete Development
According to the Long- Term Athlete Development model adopted by governing bodies of sport across the world to guide their player development strategies, the 14-18 age range is where an increased level of tactical, psychological and physical training is introduced, equipping players with the attributes they need to compete on the professional stage if they so desire.
The LTAD model also shows that at this stage of development, players’ competition time should increase as they are playing more consistently all year round. Increased competition time exposes them to a wide variety of pressures and competitive situations which force them to constantly use and improve the skills they have learnt so far.
Unfortunately, there are some elements of schoolboy football that run contrary to this advice developed by professionals through various studies.
Two points to correct
Firstly, if development at this stage should lead to increased tactical knowledge, the consistent use of sweepers by schoolboy football teams is a major problem. This outdated tactic is no longer in use in modern football when teams play with 4 defenders and is not used in our national team. So why is it being taught to young Jamaican defenders in the most critical phase of their sporting development on such a wide scale?
The sweeper practice is so rampant that there are teams which would appear to set out with a flat back 4 but do have one of their central defenders play with a deeper starting position than the other as a de- facto sweeper.
Now the majority of the questions on this front have to be answered by the coach educators and coaches who seemingly are unwilling to spend time teaching defensive concepts properly so that the need for a bailout defender is not necessary. However, I will also argue that if the JFF was operating a competition with the intended outcome to develop certain profiles of players to fit a clear football philosophy they would be able to influence how that competition operates tactically. This has been done in bigger countries than ours.
It is not a leap to make a correlation between this poor tactical and mental training at a crucial development stage and the drought of quality centre back options available to coach Theodore Whitmore for the Reggae Boyz. It would be interesting to know the Technical Director and Technical Committee’s interpretation of that.
The length of the season is another factor that goes against LTAD guidance and likely hinders player development. More competition across longer periods provides more opportunities for skills, techniques, tactics to be understood and executed more competently.
It is for this reason that in serious footballing countries the youth players play in 8-10 months leagues. We are competing against countries with competition frameworks specifically aimed at developing the best players while our best players are taking part in a glorified extracurricular school competition.
How do we plan to compete consistently when such a chopped- up competition structure is behind standard practice amongst our competitors?
New competitions
Issues like these mean we are stuck in a place where the main source of competition at the most critical stage of player development is not fit for player development. The necessary solution is the creation of new national competitions (U16 and U18) for the island’s very best players (300 or so while the others continue on the SBF stream). They would be found through a competent Talent Identification network island- wide. However the necessary force needed to make such a radical change is outside of the capacity of the JFF leadership who will not be able to withstand the pressure from some quarters.
The fact is that if we are to reach our collective desire as a footballing nation, the potential of young players has to be unlocked more consistently. The integration of international best practice is necessary to develop and operate programs and competitions that make such an outcome a priority.
Otherwise let’s just stop the pretending and say that we are simply content with participating in international football and not actually competing at any serious level.
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