Busby Jr calls for improvements
Published:Thursday | December 10, 2020 | 12:06 AM
Outgoing head coach of the national under-17 female football team, Hubert Busby Jr, is calling for key improvements which he believes will boost the growth and development of the women’s game in Jamaica.
Busby Jr was in charge of the young Reggae Girlz in their preparation for the FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup qualifiers in Mexico, which was recently cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Busby Jr, who told The Gleaner that he was disappointed that the qualifiers were cancelled, believes it nevertheless creates an opportunity to rebuild the female youth programme in order to guarantee future success at that level.
“Talent has never been an issue, but what has been an issue is the infrastructure and the planning in getting kids prepared, and players and coaches up to that level,” said Busby Jr. “Our organisation is also where we need to really improve, and we need to implement our best practices in order to do so.”
“That has really been the crux of where we are for the last 10 years, and so I think if we can get that right, then I think that the talent will look after itself, because there are talented football players in Jamaica, there are talented footballers in the diaspora,” added Busby Jr.
WILLING TO OFFER ADVICE
Busby Jr, who is the head coach of the senior women’s team, underscored that he will be more than willing to offer his advice and experience to the next head of the team.
“My initial role was to take the under-17s through this cycle now, and so with the cancelling (of the World Cup qualifiers) now, obviously, that under-17 head coach role will be somebody else’s now,” Busby Jr said.
“I am not the one that is going to be putting the programme in place, but obviously, now I am working with the senior women, but I will be more than willing to do whatever it takes to help the (U-17) programme in whatever way I can,” he said.
The national under-17 female team has never qualified for a FIFA World Cup tournament, compared to their male counterparts who have two appearances, first at the 1999 instalment and again in 2011.