Neil Berment directs S. Carolina youth clinic

[CK1]

KND2 you said that a good coach has to have good knowledge of the game. How does one gain the most knowledge of the game? Is by playing it & the higher the level you play, the more experience you would have.
Having a Master Degree has nothing to do with coaching. It's a requirement that they introduced for an elimination process. I Cafu retires now and wants to live in the US and want to coach DUke or UCLA or whatever college,
I bet all of you guys, that the Master Requirement would not be an issue. You cannot beat experience in the game at the highest level possible. Who is going to evaluate Cafu? Eh soccer_development? Which American coach is going to evaluate him or a player like him! Of course they must evalaute these amatuers in the US.

College "soccer", as what Americans call the game of FOOTBALL, is not of a high level at all. Yes, most of the US national team members passed thru the college system, and that is just how the system in the US. Players go through high school then college. But that does not mean the college game is high. It's actual a very poor league and has gotten worse. In the 80's the league was ok. But in the late 90's the level of college NCAA soccer has dropped badly. Anybody could play in that league now. Men, who only played "small goal" football back in the islands getting scholarships in the US. A lot of horrible players getting scholarships or have gotten scholarships and therefore the level dipped badly. And some of these horrible players pass through the college thing, get their degrees, get their good education, and begin to coach and call themselves "coaches" Oh please!
How is it, the 100's of foreign players (some very good) don't step to next level after college? It's a league of a very poor standard. How could much knowledge could one gain
from playing college "soccer"? He would gain as much knowledge as the standard of the league. Despite whatever you guys say about my post, you cannot beat experience. It's the greatest teacher, in any sport. The higher the level that someone plays the game,
the more knowledge of the game he would have of it. Yes, communication is a key as well, as one has to be able to transfer that knowledge. So it's combination of many factors, but the key factor is playing.


Now the best player may not be able to be a good coach. It might be a communication factor, but a good player, esp one who plays at the highest
level would always have a greater knowledge of the game as compared to another person who played at a lower level.
Yes, there are levels of coaching, professional and amatuer.

[font=Verdana]Most, almost of these guys are coaching on an amatuer level, still learning. Most of these guys never played professional ball. Most of them
played amatuer. Anton Coneal and Garth Polli are decent coaches with a lot of coaching experience. I believe Anton has many liscense, both in the US
and outside, within FIFA & I am sure he learned ALOT from Leo Benhacker; a high profile coach with PROFESSIONAL experience..............

It is quite evident that you don't know some of these men mentioned here. Before I get to that I wonder if you can tell us how Jose Morinhio got to be " The Special One" without having played at the highest level of the professional game...how did Phil Jackson become the great "Motivator"? what about Duke's " Coach k"
You seem to know a little about Anton and Garth and you think Anton learning most of his stuff from Beenie and company...you don't know who his father is or how he developed his coaching abilities?
There are men mentioned here who have as much playing experience as Anton and Garth...you don't know that men here have played against Zico and company in Brazil; Tottenham Hotspurs Glen Hoddle and company in England; Brian Kidd etc.
At the time many of these men came to the US Colleges, they were some of the best players in T&T and this was their opportunity to become professional men...millions of dollard US schools spent on them to educate them in return for them playing the game.
As great a player Cafu is, if he begun to coach tomorrow, he would begin as an ameture because he has no coaching experience...how come John Barnes and Rudd Gulitt failed to make it at the top of the coaching ranks. Latas is learning to coach...althought he is still playing. My point is ...there is a difference between playing the game and coaching the game. You have no idea how long it has taken some of these men to get to where they are in coaching; nor do you know how they got there. One of these men coaching background includes 15 plus years under the mentorship of coaches from all over the world...Vogelsinger (Austria); Tarantini  (Argentina '78 world cup coach); Mc Moran (Ireland); Langrass (Holland); and a host of othe former English and Scottish professional players who are now coaches.
One man named here turned down a pro contract to go back to school to get his Masters.
You are very disrespectful of men like Coops and others mentioned here. There are many Trinis who have impacted and influenced the US college game as players and continue to influence the game here as coaches.
Why are you knocking the US college system and league that has produced players who have made it to the World Cup 4 times...you know the painful story '89 that caused men in college here at that time to walk around with their tail between their legs. Bruce Arena didn't play professional soccer but he coached his country to 2 of those world cup appearances...yes he's an arrogant imps!!!but you can't take away what he has done.
It is only in recent years that youths in T&T getting opportunities to play professionally overseas...but many of them are no more talented than many of the former players who chose college as their pro opportunity. Dennis Lawerence is no way near the kind of player as Garnet Craig was. The costs alone for Sealy or Nakid per year to attend the schools they went to is worth more than what some players in the T&T Pro League will make in their entire pro careers.
Do us a favor and keep this garbage you spewing in Beetham

[Arimaman]

The costs alone for Sealy or Nakid per year to attend the schools they went to is worth more than what some players in the T&T Pro League will make in their entire pro careers.

This is so true.  Which is why I have a problem with the way the pro organizations run football in trini.  The guidance for most of these kids is not there.  An education is far more important that playing professionally except when you make it all the way to the top.

[Tallman]

Coach goes to court over broken contract for football camp
By Jada Loutoo (T&T Newsday)

A Trinidad and Tobago football coach based in the United States has taken the State to court over payment he claimed is owed to him for accepting a contract to host a vacation football camp.

The camp was hosted by the Laventille Morvant Schools Improvement Project (LMSIP) and approved by the Ministry of Education in 2019.

Neil Berment, who is a former national player for TT and lives in the US, filed the claim after numerous failed attempts to get $38,882.29 he said is owed to him under the contract he signed for his services.

Berment is the founder and technical director of Soccer Development International (SDI), a football coaching academy. He also holds a US Soccer Federation coaching licence and is a course instructor for South Carolina.

In his claim, filed by his attorney Peter Taylor, Berment said his academy was contracted to host the camp, which was expected to take place from July 8-19, 2019.

At the time of accepting the contract, Berment’s lawsuit said a representative of the LMSIP told him the Ministry of Education had granted approval to host the camp, at the Russell Latapy Secondary School.

Copies of the correspondence from the ministry were attached to his claim.

Berment’s lawsuit said he signed the contract accepting the offer of $38,882.29 to facilitate the camp, but two days later, the camp was “unceremoniously aborted” without explanation or apology.

Berment’s claim said he cancelled a coaching clinic in Spain to facilitate the football camp in Trinidad, which he chose to do “out of a sense of patriotism and love of country.”

His claim added, “To add more bitterness to his already overflowing cup, in addition to the loss and damage suffered by the claimant due to the aborted programme and even in the face of his offer to reduce his contract price by some $9,000 in an effort to reach an amicable settlement,” his repeated attempts to get the money due to him for the breach of the contract by the ministry failed.

He also attached the contents of nine e-mails he wrote to the ministry’s permanent secretary and one to the prime minister in his claim for breach of contract, as well as a pre-action protocol letter he sent asking for payment of the sum owed to him, as well as the cost of return airline travel from the US to TT.

In its defence, which was obtained by Newsday, the State admitted the ministry had granted approval for the hosting of the football camp and the signing of the letter or contract and agreement, but neither admitted nor denied the remainder of Berment’s claims, saying it was not in the knowledge of the defendant. The State also denied Berment was entitled to the reliefs he sought, of damages and special damages.