Putting the right structures in place

Every so often, when national age group teams participate in sub-regional or regional competitions, whether staged locally or overseas, the regular demand of the coaches is for those teams to stick together.

This demand comes from what was exhibited, thus the call for the proper structures to be put in place, to ensure continuity among the prospects.

This is on the basis that if such talent is harnessed and cultured properly, St Vincent and the Grenadines’ sports will be for the better in given time-frames.

However, the regularity of such echoing sounds has fallen on deaf eyes and things go back to normal, in a jiffy.

And football, over the years, has been the biggest loser in this regard, as many prospective players were left to fade away into oblivion.

But in most instances, not from their own neglect and loss of appetite for the sport, but the absence of a systematic progression from the age group stages to the senior national teams.

This happens across both gender, as there is no databases on the stocks either to track these players’ progress.

Hopefully, the powers that be will not pass up the opportunity to take a fresh guard in this respect and begin to erect that structure.

Recent evidence of some displays by some representative teams should encourage those in authority to map out a development pathway for the current stock of age group players.

At a glance, despite the fact that St Vincent and the Grenadines did not win a match in the CONCACAF Under-17 females group earlier this month, enough raw material is there to work with.

Set aside the results, one could have seen that some effort of structured play was made by the lasses; hence it meant that some coaching took place and retained.

 Granted that many of the females are between the ages of 14 and 16, augurs well for continuity in the sport.

It is left to the technical department of national football operations to let it be.

Similarly, the football outfit that participated in the Windward Islands Schools’ Games is another example of potent talent that has to be given the correct guidance to maximize what is seen in them at this phase of their development.

Also, our Under-15 male team journeyed to Florida two weeks ago to be part of the CONCACAF tournament. Matched against their peers in the CFU area, the Vincentians were able to win three matches, with one loss.

Whilst the latter’s results are not over the moon performances, it is a reasonable assessment for what we have in reserve and what needs to be done to take this crop of footballers forward.

History will reveal some of the most successful Vincentian football teams have had some homogeneity, as they would have been playing together for some time.

It must be noted that the much talked about 1979 and 1981 teams, were spawned from earlier youth teams’ compositions. Hence, these players had built-in synergies, which were cultured from years of playing together.

Also, counted as St Vincent and the Grenadines‘ best outing in the World Cup Qualifiers in 2004, the core of that team was part of the 1995 team that placed second in the CFU finals.

Among the list, as well, is the 2009 Under-20 team that reached the final of the CFU zone. Many of the players have gone on to senior representation. Before that though, many were part of age group teams.

The relative successes of these teams, however, were not by any set programme, but by a merging of abilities coming at the right time.

In 2017, we cannot rely on our football to still evolve, but put the systems in place to foster our current resources to deliver in the future, through a structured programme.