Are we going to be ‘also rans’?

[maxg]

The standard of InterCol is shamefully low. No national player should get caught up playing that mess.Those fellas need to be exposed to a higher level of training for us to make it to the World Cup.

ah feel yuh not thinking the whole issue through. Check, if the league poor now, with the best players sprinkled around it, how bad would it be without them. If you continue to remove the better players from the mix, how will the standard of football in any local league improve or at least be maintained. How will you develop the rest ? Do you only want to work with the early bloomers(gifted) and forget everyone else (majority)? I don't think the issue only involves taking the guys out of the league, as much as developing all the youths ? Suppose the youths taken out are the best this year, and next year there is 3-4 youths better, should you forget bout those 3-4 youths because when you made your choice last year, they weren't so good, or drop 3-4 that you pulled out, and just replace....so what did they miss their childhood mems for....To play for T&T, no matter they get six from Can, and drop 4 on Barbados.....We keep trying to find ways to drain the system, and expect the bucket to constantly remain full.

In my own experience, rubbing shoulders (or confronting) with players better than me, motivated me to improve, and when I got better, I was motivated to stay there. (only injury broke that cycle, not change of coach or admin)

So by this same logic the best players in the PRO LEAGUE should not look to go abroad, but remain in Trini for the betterment of the league?
Not be exposed to higer levels of football that will make them better players and benefit the National team when the all come together? Stay in Trini playing amongst the best Trini has to offer,then when we meetup with the USAs and Mexicos what then?

Mr. Mc, ah hope with the prev. posters comments yuh following meh. cause that is not what I am saying atall. It is because of such things (life), that I don't see the necessity for such.
Jah Gol, yuh over-simplyfying my point of view(childhood memories ). Everybody who are serious using the examples you put forth, can barely afford to have their youths in camps. Ask SH how many camps he run in Canada, how much time he has with his youths, how much major development money is invested...Don't they still have decent results considering ? Still we can't compare to them, to be realistic...Ask him where his youths come from, how are they selected ? I am not saying that is what will work for us, I am saying that some schoolboys playing in a school league for a couple months, is not what needs to be changed, more than the attitudes, methods, programs and coaching at the youth level.....Garbage in, Garbage out.. 2 extra months of avg. input gets us     See bolded above

One of the beauty of football is it's unpredictability, it may parallel life like that. Brazil with it's millions of youth playing, don't win every youth Tournament it enters, or every World Cup for that matter. I think youth development, should take the form of long term development, and benefit the many, instead of the few.

[Jah Gol]

I spoke about the low level of the InterCol but I also spoke about steps we should take to improve it. I am not neglecting the question of the overall league development. Furthermore, I stated that during this period we must make provisions for our best players to be exposed to international football at early age so the transition from youth national teams into senior national teams can be done better.

While it is true that traditionally our youth players were selected from InterCol teams in the past 2-3 years the trend of players being attached to professional clubs has emerged. I wonder where these players get the better coaching? Jabloteh or Fatima ? Is the SSFL or the Professional Clubs our feeder system ? In this case I think both of them are.

One other point I made was that it is nothing new for the best players to be withdrawn from feeder systems in fact it is the norm. Ronaldinho and Kaka played for Brazil at virtually every level. It is obvious that they would have been in camps and would have had to travel etc which would have prevented them from representing Gremio or Sao Paulo as the case may be. If the league loses 23 players it won't die. In any case many of these youths will play InterCol next year. Your National Team is more important than your league.

I think what is most important is that we seem to forget that our team needs to engage in serious preparation to be able to compete for a place. We are physically unready for that level and there are various technical deficiencies that need to corrected. The work must start now. I'm not panicking I just being realistic. We can't start preparation 2 months before and expect results.

[maxg]

I have read your post, and really have no additional comment. I like what you have posted, doh don't quite agree with all that you wrote...e.g certification alone does not a coach make, as for the other tools you say they would need, not sure what those are.. Jah Gol, I am not try to win no discussion, just trying to show differing perspectives,p.s. you shouldn't continue using the Rons as egs, we don't have and may not produce any of those in this lifetime, we may come close, but even those will be rare. Unfortunately here is something maybe lacking in many local coaches...i.e. my way or the highway..and elistist coaching attitude...Honestly, I do understand what you are saying, and though you seem to be under the impression that I think playing for/train with the National team is not important, or shouldn't be necessary, I can assure it is not the case...as I said, I don't think whether the boys are playing Intercol or not, would or should affect the National program, yet a Quality National program if done properly, would have a greater effect on all levels of football.not just 23 guys..but that is another discussion....I said no further comment  and ah still ramblin....I out

[Coop's]

While it is true that traditionally our youth players were selected from InterCol teams in the past 2-3 years the trend of players being attached to professional clubs has emerged. I wonder where these players get the better coaching? Jabloteh or Fatima ? Is the SSFL or the Professional Clubs our feeder system ? In this case I think both of them are.

        Breds not only in the past two or three years,if you follow the history of T&T Football the colleges have always been a main source for our players,try calling the name of the best players this country has ever produced and you will realize they come from one of our colleges.
         What happen to that Youth team we had the other day,did one set of screening sessions,brought home all the foreign based college players plus who have ties to T&T through parents etc the same Anton Corneal was in charge,i guess everyone know what happened,all of them can say they play for T&T yes but where are they today,you don't hear anything about them,those who you hear about struggleing to play on a Club team at home,that was suppose to be our future.      

[marcus]

we are talking about 20 students not participating in a league with 100's of kids.

Each school can survive without their Star Boy

The league will go on without the stars and

The players can survive without playing SSFL

This is not a big issue, move on with the national training and move on with the league.

Playing secondary school football is part of being a youth in Trini, and to rob them boys of that is ridicoulous.

[Jah Gol]

I have read your post, and really have no additional comment. I like what you have posted, doh don't quite agree with all that you wrote...e.g certification alone does not a coach make, as for the other tools you say they would need, not sure what those are.. Jah Gol, I am not try to win no discussion, just trying to show differing perspectives,p.s. you shouldn't continue using the Rons as egs, we don't have and may not produce any of those in this lifetime, we may come close, but even those will be rare. Unfortunately here is something maybe lacking in many local coaches...i.e. my way or the highway..and elistist coaching attitude...Honestly, I do understand what you are saying, and though you seem to be under the impression that I think playing for/train with the National team is not important, or shouldn't be necessary, I can assure it is not the case...as I said, I don't think whether the boys are playing Intercol or not, would or should affect the National program, yet a Quality National program if done properly, would have a greater effect on all levels of football.not just 23 guys..but that is another discussion....I said no further comment  and ah still ramblin....I out

Perhaps I may have inadvertantly miscontrued your valuation of National football. I agree with the idea that having the fellas play InterCol shouldn't affect their National Programs. However I want to state the given the present needs of the team I don't think InterCol football presently provides an environment conducive to development. I submitted the view that the preparation necessary for our team to be competitive requires urgent attention. The reality is ,we are not at the level of those sides. The kind of work we have to do with these youths requires greater time and that, in this instance would involve these fellas withdrawing from InterCol football.

I don't want to give the impression that I'm neglecting the SSFL. I'm simply stating that, given the reality of present environment it behooves us to restrategize in order in order to achieve our short term goal of reaching the youth world cup.

But I am not satisfied with this alone. In order for us to achieve our long term goal of being ultimatley well positioned to qualify for World Cup Tournaments at senior level considerable attention must be paid to the systems that inputs the raw material (talent) necessary for the creation of the product (teams).

A few thing I think will be effective:

The installation of structures to monitor the progress of coaches,teams and players.(Databases)
Monitor the progress of the development of the league through annual coaching conferences and technical analyses.
Modernisation of coaching techniques.(Certification for both school and club coaches)
Improve infrastructure(fields etc.) and multimedia tools to aid teaching.
Configuration of league schedules to prevent conflict between the school and club.
A definition of the relationship between national player and the national team and his club/school.

I think in an environment where the SSFL is more competitive and can produce player who can at least make the physical requirements for international youth football then we can have no worry about their playing affecting national programs. But in presently we do have to do something different.