G.C. ready and waiting

Since it was established in 1980, the G.C. Foster College has produced a number of graduates who have contributed tremendously to the growth of local track and field.

The likes of Maurice Wilson, Michael Clarke, Neil Harrison, and Danny Hawthorne have harnessed talents in the discipline who have gone on to win medals for Jamaica on the global stage at the junior and senior levels.

FOOTBALL LAGGING

But while the discipline of track and field flourishes, football, which still holds an indelible spot in the hearts of the majority of Jamaicans, has not been able to gain the same kind of traction.

Dwight Angus, a senior lecturer at the college who is in charge of its football operations, told The Gleaner that the college is capable of doing the same for football like it is doing with track and field if the Jamaica Football Federation is willing to come on board.

"G.C. Foster is ready and waiting for the JFF to join with us to implement a serious football programme that would see the development of players from the grass-roots level up," Angus said.

"We have the skill set, we have the experience to streamline and put something together. We could copy the template from track and field and then tweak it to ensure that kind of success, and once we do that, then that will go a far way in terms of turning the corner.

"With track and field, they start from the basic school level up. It is very well organised as opposed to the football landscape, where the only form of development that we see is really at the high-school level," Angus said.

"Where we (G.C. Foster College) play a pivotal role is really in the upgrading of our coaching and human resources up to the point where we have a better grasp of the science of coaching. But the problem we have is having the kind of system like there is in track and field, where the coaches can work their magic from the early stages."

According to Angus, JFF president Michael Ricketts met with the college right after he assumed office last year to forge a relationship, but nothing has come from those discussions.

Attempts to contact Ricketts for a response yesterday proved futile.