The juggling act

LENWORTH HYDE, Phillip Williams, and Jerome Waite are just three of the coaches pulling double duty this football season, managing charges in both schoolboy football and the Jamaica Premier League, powered by Wray and Nephew.

The 2023 schoolboy football season is already in its second phase, while the club teams played their first-round games just this weekend.

All three coaches spoke about time management and the different motivations in coaching at both levels.

Hyde, a very experienced coach at the club level, has had stints at Hazard, Portmore United, Tivoli, Harbour View, Humble Lion, and Sporting Central, and is now with Dunbeholden. Hyde is also coach of defending daCosta Cup champions, Clarendon College.

“Working with both the school and club team is not a problem for me, as I worked with the club in the mornings and with my school team in the afternoons,” said Hyde.

According to Hyde, managing a club team is more challenging.

“It is kind of difficult working with the club, as most of these players are coming from other clubs and it takes some time for them to adjust to your style of play,” he said.

But, according to Hyde, while coaching at both levels is gratifying, he is more heartened by working with students.

SUPPORT

“Because of the strong support from past students and the school itself, the support system from the school is much better. Also, I get more gratification coaching at the high school. Seeing a young player coming through the system and going all the way to college and the senior level is a humble feeling,” said Hyde.

Coach at Arnett Gardens for several years, where he started in 2000, and now at Tivoli Gardens for his first stint, Waite also spent several years at Charlie Smith High School and is now in his second season at Wolmer’s Boys’ School.

“For me, time management is not an issue, as the distance between venues is less than 10 minutes driving. Training at school starts just after classes are dismissed and, for the club, we start at 6 p.m.,” he said.

Waite spoke about the objectives of coaching at the different levels being different.

“Coaching at the schoolboy level, the objective is more long-term, while, at the club, it is more demanding, as it is more pressure to do well,” he said.

Williams, who is in his second stint at the club level with Portmore, and who also had duties at Tivoli, is the man guiding St Andrew Technical High School in the Manning Cup competition.

“Time management is very challenging for me, as I am also a full-time teacher. But I am able to control this well due to different times of training for both groups,” said Williams, who has been teaching at St Andrew Technical High School (STATHS) for the past 20 years.

Williams, who worked with the Under-14 and Under-16 teams at STATHS since 2014, only started to work with the senior team in 2017.

“Support at the high school is greater but the demand at the club level is higher, based on the ego of these players,” said Williams.

Williams is in agreement with Hyde about the gratification that comes from the development of players.

“It is most gratifying coaching in high school as, seeing players making it all the way from Under-14 to the senior team and then to go to college is a pleasant feeling,” he said.