Football coaches Dover and Pearce make winning start in T&T

[Tallman]

Football coaches Dover and Pearce make winning start in T&T
Kaieteur News

Guyanese football coaches, Wayne Dover and Kavin Pearce made a victorious start to their coaching stint in Trinidad & Tobago on Thursday with a win in the Digicel Pro League, Reserve Division.
Dover who is coach of the Caledonia AIA Second Team has his sidekick, Pearce as his Assistant. The duo saw their young charges etch a 1-0 victory over defending Reserve Division champs W Connection at the Larry Gomes Stadium.

Featuring prominently in the game was Guyanese Under-20 player Dwayne “Deco” Blake who made the through pass which resulted in the LJ Mitchell first half goal that turned out to be decisive.
Blake, who hails from Bartica, was given a two year contract at Caledonia on the insistence of former Guyana Technical Director Jamaal Shabazz, who saw the skillful midfielder back in 2005 as an Under-16 player when he first came to the country.

Speaking after his team’s victory an emotional Dover stated:
“This is a dream start for my career. W Connection is a top club and it was a very hard game for us. The Reserve Division is made up of players from the club’s Under-21 team and the professionals who are not starting in the Professional Team’s first eleven, so it is a very competitive scenario.

“It is an ideal environment for Guyana’s Under-20 players and coach Pearce and myself have asked Shabazz about the possibility of bringing more Guyanese youth players which will help the GFF’s programme.
For instance Dwayne Blake has matured so much in this environment and with the talent we have in Guyana, if our boys get what I am seeing here we will be a force in the future.”

Pearce and Dover work fulltime, six days a week in the mornings with the Professional Team as assistant coaches and in the evenings they are in charge of the Reserve Team.

“We work very hard here, but I get the satisfaction that at the end of the day I have made a decision where I can feed my family in a decent way”, explained Dover.

“We are learning a lot here not just on the field, but things like dress code, dealing with the media, financial management and meeting a lot of people that can help us in our career.”




Coach Wayne Dover (right) and Kavin Pearce (left) discuss
training strategy with Technical Director Jamaal Shabazz (2nd left).

[E-man]

Dover, Pearce get new job offer in T/dad
Stabroek News reports.

Former Guyana national coach Wayne Dover is settling down to business in neighbouring Trinidad.

Dover and his sidekick Kavin Pearce, are in charge of the Caledonia AIA Under-21 team in the Digicel Pro League Reserve Division in Trinidad.

At present the Dover-coached Caledonia Reserve squad is holding the  second spot in the Reserve Division with 15 points after winning five matches and losing two.

The division is led by Joe Public with 19 points and they defeated Caledonia 3-2 two weeks ago. Caledonia won their last match against St. Ann’s Rangers 3-0.

Today is a major test for Dover’s men as they meet CLICO Jabloteh at the Larry Gomes Stadium. Guyana national youth players Brian Baker, Kestore Jacobs and Dwayne “Deco” Blake will be in the Caledonia Reserve lineup for today’s game.

And only three months into their two-year deal with Caledonia, Dover and Pearce have been offered an additional job to work with the Barataria Senior Secondary School in the popular Trinidad & Tobago Secondary Schools Football League.

According to Dover, the school which is based in the same community as the Caledonia club, approached former Guyana Technical Director Jamaal Shabazz to help them find two coaches for their programme.

“Coach Shabazz has arranged it where we can work at the club and still work with the school as well. This is a big step for us since the Secondary School’s League in Trinidad receives tremendous publicity and media attention,” explained Dover.

“Juggling the two is going to be tough but we came to Trinidad to work – we did not come here to play,” stated Pearce who plays a more administrative role at the club but will be doing a lot of coaching at the school.

“It will be very interesting to work in that school environment and getting their team which plays in the second division and to bring them up to the first division is the kind of responsible challenge our careers need at the moment,” added Dover.

Asked about their adjustment to life in Trinidad, both men admitted that it was very hard work but said they were very happy with their decision to move on.

“Sometimes our only day off is a Sunday because Coach Shabazz is a workaholic but we have a deep satisfaction at the end of the month knowing we have worked hard for our money. More importantly we get a fair day’s pay for a hard day’s work,” Dover said.

“Guyana still looks at a coach as a person who wants the job so badly that they will take it under the most unfair and inhumane conditions. People feel the coach is an amateur who does not deserve to get paid for his efforts.

“Well, if the plumber, the garbage man, the general secretary and even the maid can be paid why the coach can’t be paid for his efforts. All those coaches who want to pretend that the title of coach with no decent salary behind it will feed their families then I wish them all the best.”

Asked if he will consider working in Guyana football in the near future Dover left the door open. “Once people in Guyana football, be it club or federation, are willing to treat me as a professional I am willing to talk but from what I am hearing Guyana’s football is in good hands and I wish the programme all the best…I have made tremendous sacrifices for Guyana’s football and was part of a team that brought its reputation to a very respectable position. Guyana’s football will always be very dear to my heart,” Dover concluded.