Coach Speid the first in his class

Cavalier’s Rudolph Speid became the first of 30 regional coaches to receive his Concacaf A licence coaching certification, after more than a year of meticulous work.

The highly rated coach, who said his next objective is to complete the Pro licence course, hopes completing the A licence will help motivate other local coaches that they can do it as well.

Speid, the technical director at Cavalier, says the local coaching landscape is undergoing a revolution, and that he is proud to be leading the way forward.

“The trigger point was the Olympic qualifier in 2019 when we had a star-studded under-20 team, and St Kitts and Nevis beat us to go through.

“St Kitts and Nevis had a coach who was teaching us the B licence, and I knew that was the difference for us not going through.

“From that day we have been very serious about the process of getting better coaches in Jamaica,” he commented.

For Speid coaching qualification is something of a personal obsession and he wanted to lead from the front in this regard.

“I believe everyone should get qualified and I think I had to lead the way. That was one of my big motivations, for people to say if Speid did it, there is no reason we can’t,” he said.

The course, it is understood, is tedious and time-consuming, and he admitted it wasn’t easy.

He disclosed that he had to assess 18 matches. He first scouted teams he would assess and then he devised training strategies to deal with the teams.

After that he had to review the games and show what he was doing last year compared to his successes this year.

He noted that he also had to identify four players for personal development, of which three of them went overseas.

“This was something I was really interested in doing and it has made me a better coach in my local competition. It was tedious, but if you really want to do it properly, you have to put in a lot of work.”

One of the main reasons he was able to complete the course before the others is because he only coaches one team, unlike most other local coaches who coach multiple teams.

“It is extremely difficult for them, but it was right up my street to be able to do it, and that’s the reason I was able to finish ahead of most persons,” he added.

With the A license now achieved, Speid will take some time to consider, but he is thinking of going for his Pro licence in 2025.

Ten other Jamaican coaches are currently undergoing the A licence, 27 are certified B licence-holders and 29 others are also sitting the course.

While, at the recent FIFA/Concacaf coach educators course a number of local coaches were certified to teach the C licence course.

Speid pointed out that there is now a pathway for coaches who are willing to work hard.

“You can do the D and the C, and we have another B coming up in March of next year. So you will be right there if you follow the process, and then the next step would be to do the A licence.

“This is what we have really established here, a road map for coaches, and soon you will have other coaches passing the A licence, as well, so people can know that the path is not insurmountable and they can make it,” said the Jamaica Football Federation’s technical committee chairman.

livingston.scott@gleanerjm.com