DOWNSWELL (right)... I'm hell bent on getting our youth coaches qualified
According to Downswell, the course, which was confined to coaches from the CONCACAF and CONMEBOL confederations, further magnified the importance of youth development to any nation.
"I thought it met its objectives and having been to that seminar, it would have put me in better stead as a coach, because sometimes you might figure that you are on the right track, but it is not a certainty, until you expose yourself to other people and you see the direction they are taking in terms of youth development, and they emphasise that the youth development and the local development were crucial," said Downswell.
"It is not so much what you do at the international level, but the structure that you have in place because gradually and methodically, results will fall in place," the former national striker added.
The course was conducted by the Pan American Sports Organisation in collaboration with the Olympic Solidarity programme, and it included a total of 32 coaches.
In attendance were coaches from all South American countries except Argentina, all Central American countries except Mexico, and from the other areas of CONCACAF, except the USA and Canada.
The lecturers
The lecturers were Professor Pedro Rocha of Brazil, a former Under-20 coach; Professor Jose Roberto Galiccio of Brazil, who works in Sao Paolo area; Dr Augustinin Cassacia of Paraguay, who dealt with sports medicine; and Omar Villarel of Paraguay, who dealt with sports psychology.
"In a nutshell, all 32 of us made presentations as it relates to our own countries and the development of football. The South Americans, who are the superpowers... place a lot of emphasis on youth development and they explained that by the time players reach the age of 15, they, as coaches, more or less know whether players are going to make it to the top level and they start screening players off from there.
"The whole aspect of coaching development was also high on their agenda," he said.
"The coaches are taken through an institution of learning, and what they place a lot of emphasis on is technical development at the early age, and they try to let players become students of the game, all the pros and cons, so by the time players reach of the age of 17 they are tactically ready and technically aware... and primed for a higher level," Downswell explained.
He also noted that in South America, they try to get the coaches at the youth level very qualified, so that by the time the players get to the senior level there won't be any problems.
"They are now developing their coaches to understand the importance of psychology in the scheme of things, as it relates to football. Ideally, they would like for sports psychologists to be full time with youth teams, but for those who can't afford that luxury, they want the coaches to understand and fit in, so that the process can become a little easier when the sports psychologist come in.
Proper Guidance
"They also want to be fully staffed at the youth level, with the doctor, coaches, sports psychologists, physiotherapist, physical trainer, nutritionist, equipment manager, etc. They require all these staff because they figure that at this level the players have so many distractions, and they are going to need proper guidance to see them through."
But the thing that stood out most in Downswell's mind was the youth structure. He said they (coaches) were taken to watch two games, including a Copa Libertadores game where they were split into four groups and asked to do a brief analysis of the game.
In their analysis, they were asked to look at the first 10 minutes; then the next 15 minutes; how the teams behave during particular periods, and why; when they change strategies; and how.
This has to do with educating the players, so that they can interchange and be flexible to move from one system to another without any major problems.
"I think that overall the group did well and when the professor examined our analyses he figured we were more or less on the right path. He gave his views in terms of certain things, the most influential player in the game, the defensive and offensive units, then the individuals and their workrate and how they integrated in the game."
Downswell said the instructors brought in some youngsters and asked the coaches to work them through the various systems and to analyse the positives and negatives of the various systems.
Technical Drills
"They also concentrated a lot on technical drills, and they worked a lot of variations in these exercises, then we closed with a game," he said.
"Then, there was an evaluation of the course itself, the level of organisation we thought was very good, and the camaraderie was good. The few days we spent you could see that people were 'gelling' and especially those from South America, they were willing to 'rap' and share ideas.
"So, for our own development, we need to get our house in order, and most importantly, we need to get our coaches up to standard, proper coaching, not just coaching, but proper coaching, especially at the youth level.
"And just like the federation is thinking of having youth licence mandatory for coaches wishing to practise at that level is important and as the head coach, that is something that I am hell bent on doing - get our coaches qualified," he emphasised.
The national head coach also believes coaches need to explore other philosophies and not just stick to one nation's philosophy.
"We need to look what the Germans are doing, the English, the Italians, the Spanish, the Dutch, the French, etc. We need to explore what is happening at all the superpowers and bring back what we have observed and develop our football."
Now armed with a diploma of participation, Downswell expressed thanks to the Jamaica Olympic Association (JOA), in conjunction with the JFF, for affording him the opportunity to attend the course.
