‘Build from the village up’- Carrington

Samuel “Sammy” Carrington, the newly reappointed Technical Director to the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Football Federation, wants to see a radical shift back to village football, and is campaigning to “build from the village up”.{{more}}

Carrington, who took up the job just over a week ago, told SEARCHLIGHT last Monday: “That is the way to go”.

“It is about time we develop youth teams from every village and build from there,” Carrington, a Vincentian national, said.

Reminiscing on the past, Carrington stated: “remember the days when every village had a team, and that brought out the crowds.”

He pointed to the current National Lotteries Authority National Club Championships which he said is lacking in following from spectators because people cannot identify with the clubs.

Carrington also thinks that the standard in this competition for what he has seen thus far is “very poor”.

“There are three or four good teams, and the rest are below standard,” he added.

He said that when one looks at the composition of the teams/clubs in the National Club Championships, there are not many Under-17 players on their rosters.

“I have looked at the finals of the secondary schools and I think there are lots of good players in the Bequia team and the JP Eustace teams,” Carrington observed.

“I think that many of these players are better than many of the older players that are on show,” the Technical Director stated emphatically.

Carrington believes the time is right to get many of these promising players in the national set up before they are lost through lack of attention.

“When do we want to bring them in, when they are 20?” Carrington questioned.

Carrington, into his second stint in the post after first being in the job in 2000, said that youth development will be one of his major focuses in his initial two-year contract.

The TD also wants to bring back respect to Vincy Football.

“I want to bring back some respectability to St. Vincent and the Grenadines Football which over the years has dropped badly,” Carrington projected.

To this end, he will be putting into practice his “Blue print for Success”, a document he produced three years ago aimed at 2018 World Cup.

“I intend to have the local coaches trained, so coaches’ education will be key. The sessions will be videotaped and the coaches in the various villages will be given the DVD to carry out their coaching with their teams,” Carrington said.

Carrington is confident that with the co-operation of all involved, this country’s Football will be on the road to recovery.

Carrington replaced English man Stewart John-Hall, who had a five-month stay on the job from January to June 2008.(RT)