Downswell speaks out

By Audley Boyd, Staff Reporter

Goalkeeper Allien Whittaker made some excellent saves for Young Reggae Boyz during the World Youth tournament.

BUENOS AIRES:

NATIONAL Junior coach Wendell Downswell wants radical changes to Jamaica's Youth football programme.

Downswell, head coach of the under-20 team which failed to advance beyond the first round at the World Youth tournament said these changes are needed for the island to become competitive at the world level.

Jamaica were eliminated after losing 1-5 to hosts Argentina on Saturday in their final first round game to finish bottom of Group A with one point.

It was the second time in as many appearances that a Jamaican youth team failed to progress beyond the first round of a Youth World Cup, following the Under-17 team's bottom-place finish at the 1999 championship in New Zealand where they lost all three games.

A number of age group tournaments are coming up soon and most of the members of this Under-20 squad should form the core of the team. Downswell, a former national player who has worked extensively with the senior team as assistant coach, believes they should spend less time with their clubs and be programmed into a training schedule which gives the national staff almost the entire week to foster professional habits and attitudes.

"Either we come to this competition, qualify just to participate or to be competitive. If we're coming to just to participate we can continue along the same lines but if we're coming to be competitive then we have to find some resources to invest in the youngsters," said Downswell.

"What we need now is to get these youngsters in a competitive environment. No disrespect to the clubs but you have to get the youngsters in a very competitive mood, especially their whole training attitudes.

Within the next three years, Jamaica will be involved in qualification matches for the Central American and Caribbean Games, Pan Am Games and the Olympics in 2004, for which the general age level is Under 23.

"In terms of being competitive at the youth level, what we need to do with the squad (because the squad will be together for the next three years) is to take them out of the clubs and let them spend three quarters of the week with the national programme, say from Monday to probably Thursday or Friday, then release them to play their club games.

"By doing that we will have full knowledge of the whole whereabouts of the players and the total development in terms of nutrition and their physical capacity and tactical awareness as it relates to the game itself...to ensure that the talent comes to the forefront," said Downswell.

Having indicated that the raw talent of his team is not far different from other participating teams at this World Cup, Downswell said "...to sustain the rigours of the game it's not an easy thing at the international level and if you look at the competitions how they're structured where you play back-to-back games, these players will have to learn to adapt."

He said there is a need to "get them in practice games of this nature probably a month or two before a major tournament to get them familiar with the rigours that are involved in international football."

A number of Jamaica's players used good skill to get by opponents on a number of occasions at this tournament, only to lose that advantage and possession by being shouldered off the ball.

"We need to look seriously at getting power training, strength training in our programme...this is something we have to implement and start working on. This should be implemented with all the youth programmes and not only that, but we've to instill this and get this in the respective clubs and schools. Once we can do that then we'll know we're on the right track in terms of competing at the youth level, Downswell said."

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