State of T&T COllege Ball

[Trini]

Especially for all the men from foreign, the season now ending, and if is one thing I have to comment on....all the commentators keep talking about how the standard of the league has improved.
There is a lot, A LOT of talk about individual players this year.

I didnt see any games in its entirety, but I saw lots of highlights, and I must say, some of the plays look real class.
The guy from El Do, Gay, the tall forward, that man is real poison. He score 2 gials vs CIC, the second one look like an EPL top striker, turning man, and off with pace from half line and clinical finishing. Definitely one to watch.
I saw Manners from San Juan, he looks real impressive too, although I hear he real old, like 18-19 or something like that.
There is a forward from Naps, forget he name, start with W, real dread too.
The CIC players look impressive too, their play look real classy, no wonder they reach far.
Plus lots of other players there was talk about.
Some visitors to TT who were here even commented on how good the quality of the highlights looked at times.
I am one of the may who bash the SSFL, but i'll be honest and say from what I saw, and the papers reports and listening the commmentary, there seems to be a little extra optimisn and enthusiam about our scool footballers this season.

Looking forward to the intercol final next Tue.

[Coop's]

Thanks Breds,i appreciate the positive vibes on the Colleges league,if they continue this way the huge crowds will come back eventually, is just that schools are not consistent. 

[Small Magician aka Wazza]

some Individuals....but sadly "NO FOOTBALL"...these kids are 17 and 18 yr olds...

[Deeks]

College football is about excitement. Just let them play!. I glad that the "estudiantes" are bringing back some passion to the game. Go QRC!!!!

[palos]

The proof is whether these players match up to their peers in the region.  By region I mean the rest of CONCACAF.

Colleges Ball might be all nice and good but if dem players could be on par with or better than their peers in the region, then there is hope. 

If they not, it really doh matter now does it.

[ZANDOLIE]

Especially for all the men from foreign, the season now ending, and if is one thing I have to comment on....all the commentators keep talking about how the standard of the league has improved.
There is a lot, A LOT of talk about individual players this year.

I didnt see any games in its entirety, but I saw lots of highlights, and I must say, some of the plays look real class.
The guy from El Do, Gay, the tall forward, that man is real poison. He score 2 gials vs CIC, the second one look like an EPL top striker, turning man, and off with pace from half line and clinical finishing. Definitely one to watch.
I saw Manners from San Juan, he looks real impressive too, although I hear he real old, like 18-19 or something like that.
There is a forward from Naps, forget he name, start with W, real dread too.
The CIC players look impressive too, their play look real classy, no wonder they reach far.
Plus lots of other players there was talk about.
Some visitors to TT who were here even commented on how good the quality of the highlights looked at times.
I am one of the may who bash the SSFL, but i'll be honest and say from what I saw, and the papers reports and listening the commmentary, there seems to be a little extra optimisn and enthusiam about our scool footballers this season.

Looking forward to the intercol final next Tue.

As a fella who vex with the way the SSFL governing body has neglected football development and has no introduced little to no type of innovation to its program I must say just from video review of game highlights improvement can be seen. Whether it is the fruit of hard labour on the part of SSFL or better individual coaching and spillover from World cup participation I don't know.

Some of these fellas chasin ball hard hard and showing real skill. Sean Da Silva and the team from from (C)acaholes (I)n (C)ollege    were looking real good in the few highlights I saw of them. Much much improved from last year.    Other outstanding players were Elijah Manners, Gay, Trent Lougheed from Carps and the fella from Naps, Shaddon Winchester who young but have SKILL for days on end. Everybody talking about Naps defence but their midfield is looking very strong too. So I will give credit where credit is due. To my eyes, the youths looking better than this time last year. A good test will come when we play the Winners of the  Jamrok schools competition. So hat's off to the youth and the SSFL. Keep that vibe going strong.

Peace

[pardners]

Shaddon Winchester is definitely one to watch in the future.  He is a relative of mine.  I remember seeing him play with us bigger folks at a family get together years ago.  He was probably around 8 years old at the time and I immediately spoted his already mature game.  I told his mother to encourage him to go further (his father, RIP was a ball ho too)...she told me he was already enrolled with W Connection development program.  It was no surprise to me to see him on the National U15 team that played the other day.

He calmly slotted the final nail in the coffin when Naps beat Carapichima on PKs last week...that after scoring a 30 yd scorcher during the game.

[dinho]

maybe college ball looking good because this is the first year we actually had access to online highlights.   

from what i saw, the standard was pretty ok, with a few standout players like mentioned here.. but a bit far-fetched to say it was a big advancement on previous years..

[Touches]

Sorry to burst alyuh bubble.

It is a waste of time and painful to watch.

You are better off loggin on to schoolsoccernet and ketching the 15 second clip. That is all the action you seeing for the entire game.

Look at the league table..... 3 teams dominating and the rest just collecting licks.

Again in days of old...maybe 5 yrs ago you could find 4-6 standout players PER TEAM.

Now alyuh grasping at straws and bigging up one man for a entire zonal division.

Also do not look at the few seconds of highlights...go to a game and watch the other 89 minutes of errors bad passing and cluelessness on the part of some of the players.

They not doing the simple and basic things correctly.

All the teams improved in the second half of the season but the general std is poor.

How much did our under 17 collect again in the WC? What did the players themselves admit?

Trini you take a chain up from a excitable old CIC commentator on the radio...schools soccernet is a CIC man and some of our daily newspaper reporters as well.

SSFL is a waste of time.

WORSE yet if the best player for any school is 18 or 19.....he done washed up.

[pardners]

I echo your sentiments Touches.  It really hurt mih heart to see some of the games...at times it looking like primary school football.

[real madness]

I eh see a SSFL game in ah long while so I cant comment about the standard.  Based on the locals the standard is very poor and I doubt all the locals lying so I accept their assessment of the league.

However, there must be about 10 players each season who are capable to perfroming at the senior level if provided with the right assistance.  As someone said if the best player is 18 or 19 he done washed up (I interpret that as diifcult to break his bad habits and not much room for improvement (potential stage is long gone)).

The focus should be on the the guys 15 - 16, for example shandon winchester, I believe he is 15 and this is his second season in the SSFL, Nigel Wright is around age and I believe it is his second season as well, these guys are the dominant players for their team for the past couple of seasons so there must be some sort of potential there, I am sure there are others as well.

I watched a lot of SSFL from 1985 to 1993 (over 200 games) and a few from 1994 to 1997, 2001-2003.  Comparing  games from 85 to 93 to those between 2001 - 2003 the standard has dropped tremendously (then again I could be one of those men who feel their era is the best).

So it appears that the SSFL is crap but the problem is bigger than the players, it the structure of the league, the administration, the fans (players become swell headed because of their own fans, making them feel better that they really are), and the quality of coaching are just some of the other issues affecting the league.  At the end of the day, the SSFL is the feeder ground for national youth teams (I notice the stars of national youth leagues U15, U17, etc. who do not play SSFL ball are seldon part of the national team pool).  So the best option might be fixing the problems in the SSFL.

As Palos said, if the players are better or on par with their regional peers, then there is some hope.

[ZANDOLIE]

The effort put out by the players is DEFINITELY better than last year. Nobody saying these youth "ready". Not every team have 10 Latapy's and a Shaka. But the same ball they were watching roll by last year, they runnning down hard in 2007. It will take years to significantly improve the standard of play, but IF they at least keep up the effort and are inspired by the Warriors and the U-17, cut-ass or not, the enthusiasm should at least lead to more improvement. Them fellas and their coaches have to crawl before they walk.

It depends a lot on the SSFL too. If they use their budget properly or find new sources of revenue they could at least do more than pit the school boys against Jamaica. What wrong with playing them against Venezuela or Cuba as well.

[Coop's]

Come on guys,College Football is for those high school kids,that's their thing it's not for us,if we choose to participate we have to take it for what it's worth,if we get a player or two from it fine,is just that i find some how all our players are coming from there,the problem the Colleges league have is a national problem,every one think we don't have Coaches good enough to coach our national teams it's the same thing going on with our Colleges,those Coaches not up to the challenge,these schools needs programs if they have to improve,they must have some sort of support system,you can't have good teams when you have three months to screen,prepare and play games(season),the reason they start playing alright at the end of the season is because that's the time the season should have started,a three month preparation should be about right.I find like after you get used to watching a certain level of Football everything else looks below standard and we can't stand watching it(no fun),if we don't raise our expectations about any game i think we can enjoy any game.

[pardners]

I for one agree that the SSFL has its place in the school curriculum etc etc etc.....however, I always remember John Williams' statement that T&T might be the only national team in international competitions where they announce what school the player is attached to...whereby the other teams have 15 to 17 yr olds who are attached to premier league teams in their respective countries.

Imagine the SSFL principals telling their players they can't play for their respective clubs because school football more important.  They even had run-ins with Corneal for NT training for the U-17 WC.

The time will come when we have to make a decision whether the greater importance is SSFL or in the national interest.  Some compromise have to be reached.

[Coop's]

I for one agree that the SSFL has its place in the school curriculum etc etc etc.....however, I always remember John Williams' statement that T&T might be the only national team in international competitions where they announce what school the player is attached to...whereby the other teams have 15 to 17 yr olds who are attached to premier league teams in their respective countries.

Imagine the SSFL principals telling their players they can't play for their respective clubs because school football more important.  They even had run-ins with Corneal for NT training for the U-17 WC.

The time will come when we have to make a decision whether the greater importance is SSFL or in the national interest.  Some compromise have to be reached.

        That's not unusual because from what i know here in Va ,school come before club,when school Soccer on, kids give club a rest even Coaches encourage them not to play for club,if the school league on in the Fall they play for club in the Spring,it's difficult to play both any how because schedules conflict,some kids try to do both by just playing games and no practice because the school Coaches commit them fully so that they don't play for their club,also it burns them out before the season over.I understand what's important where the national interest is concerned but not everybody in this to cater for the national teams,there are certain experiences children gain from going to school which they will never get any where else and it's only a short time they have,most don't make it to play international Football but at least they had a good experience while in school.