Audley Boyd, Assistant Sport Editor

THE JAMAICA Football Federation (JFF) is planning to establish specific training for football coaches here in a more comprehensive manner.

The move is expected to facilitate improved qualification and lead some participants through the doors of the University of Technology (UTech), aiming to offer a first degree as it is further con-ceptualised.

"We are not only looking at qualifying for the World Cup Final. We are going to concentrate a lot of our efforts on the training of our young footballers and Dr. Winston Dawes is spearheading a programme to deal with the coaching of football coaches," JFF president Captain Horace Burrell said at a function to honour long-serving referees last weekend. "We're moving to set up a proper coaching school in Jamaica whereby coaches can go on to gain a diploma. This course will run for between two to three years and successful participants will earn a diploma, and later on a degree."

First batch by 2012

In a follow-up interview, Burrell further stated: "Ultimately, that is the way Jamaica will go. Right now, Dr. Dawes is working around the clock. He's going to be head of that. It is going to be a curriculum developed by him and his people and a course offered through the University of Technology.

"We're expecting by the year 2012 to graduate our first batch and we hope a number of young persons with the requisite skills will take up this challenge.

"Right now, plans are going very fast and this is a part of the new coordination that the technical director will be involved in setting up," noted Burrell, who announced on Tuesday that Brazilian Ren? Simoes would be returning in his former role by January 5.

Dr. Dawes, himself a former JFF president, said" "UTech has given its commitment" and his team is currently formulating its plan and is also involved in negotiations to settle some deals.

"It's gelling , we have had some meetings already," Dawes said. "We are trying to get some lecturers in and sponsorship. In another week or two we will have some plans about the whole curriculum.|

"I am hoping to get this coming on early next year. We have the curriculum there and when Simoes comes, he can bring his experience in developing the programme. It's part of our comprehensive plan in developing the sport. From now on, every coach, whether at school or club level, should start off at level one."

Scientific developments

The sport has developed scientifically and Dr. Dawes pointed out that projections have been made in the programme to support such a transformation.

"At the end of it (the course), we will get a coach who has a scientific background, so they will understand the whole aspect of preparation of a team, to get people fit, proper nutrition and teach people techniques. They will understand the rules of the game and they will have a broad overview of the various tactics involved in the sport," explained Dr. Dawes, who also holds the portfolio of adjunct professor in medicine at UTech.

"A fair amount of sports medicine which will involve nutrition, first aid, recognition of injuries and psychology and information technology will also be incor-porated. The way the world is going now, you have guys who will sit down and use a computer and work you out. The days of talent alone have ended ... You must have scientific preparation."

A founding president of the St. Thomas Football Association, and later the Clarendon FA, Dr. Dawes noted recent statistics relating to the number of English nationals (18-20 per cent) playing in England and postulated that efforts to rectify that will mean less opportunities for people here, as well as a coaching system that feeds out worldbeaters.

"So, the pool is going to get less and less and we are going to develop our pool and there's no reason why we can't replicate what happens in track and field and netball. But they (coaches) must have a solid background of what it entails in developing a proper coaching programme.

"In another few years, when we have totally dominated football in this region, then people will be coming to us, as they do for track and field.

"When we started the programme in track and field, , nobody came. But when we started dominating in the we way we are, everybody started coming here. So you had a lot of G.C. Foster graduates being employed as national coaches," revealed Dr. Dawes, who served as chairman of the board for the Spanish Town-based tertiary institution specifying in physical education, for 181/2 years.

Support for new thrust

Meanwhile, coach of Caribbean and premier league champions, Harbour View, Lenworth Hyde Sr., said the thrust to enhance the development of coaches here was "very important".

"We are always complaining abut our coaches not being up to standard," Hyde said. "Qualification is important because even the other day many people were hitting out that (Theodore) Whitmore shouldn't have been national coach and if he had they wouldn't have been saying so."

He added, "This will be good for our coaches and in the future help us in that we won't have to go overseas for a coach. It will be great for our coaches and our players. We are behind in our coaching and preparation."

A former Jamaica midfield general nicknamed 'Teacher' for his breathtaking skills, who also won four Premier League titles at Boys' Town (three) and Tivoli Gardens (one), Hyde explained how greater technical knowledge and nutritional details would assist coaches.

"What our players are eating is not always conducive to the type of training that we want to give them," he pointed out. "Most of the teams in Europe and England have been playing the 4-5-1 formation for about four years now. I haven't seen a team playing that formation here because we don't know how to coach it. We are still playing the 5-3-2 from Simoes' days. Simoes brought that.

"It's good when you have the added dimension and you know that means when we go overseas and play a team using that formation, we will know how to work out what is happening and how to counter it. I think we are behind in our football."

Using experienced players

Dr. Dawes says courses will be islandwide and there are no opportunities for matriculation of players with Premier League experience.

"We are going to start from scratch almost. We would want to give them a solid background so that when they put a training session together they'd understand that you can't have three hard training sessions for a day and not eat properly. And not only that you can't have a heavy meal before a match, but why," asserted Dr. Dawes.

Although in some countries, the MLS and the United States' for instance, Hyde supports the view that even players with Premier League experience should start from scratch.

"Definitely, because they just play football, they are not educated fully about the game. They know the training, based on how we run the sessions, but in terms of getting it across to a player they're not that intellectually developed and they don't understand how to impart it."

National goalkeeper Richard McCallum supports the move towards football degree coaching courses here.

"That must be a good move, getting our coaches qualified at a higher level. Good coaches mean better players. It's all about moving the game to a more professional level to move the sport forward."

However, he believes that, like the United States format, Premier League experience should count for something, thus exempting players from some courses.

"I don't think everybody should start from scratch," he opined. "If I were to start now it would be unfair for me or a player who had played for several years. As a former player you must know the basics."

Dr. Dawes, though, contends that there's a difference with most MLS players.

"Most of the U.S. players would have already had a college degree," said Dr. Dawes. "What we want is a coach who can coach anybody, anywhere."