Success takes back seat to development – YFL coaches

FOLLOWING THE first weekend of action in the Youth Football League (YFL) U-11 Junior Cup at the Constant Spring Sports Complex on Saturday, youth coaches have stressed the importance of ensuring players learn the fundamentals rather than focusing on results.

One such coach is Gregory Jones of Emmanuel Christian Academy (ECA), who applauded the Junior Cup initiative.

ECA were back-to-back champions heading into this year’s staging.

Jones said the Junior Cup is a good platform for grassroots development and will always receive his support through his team’s participation.

“This is great for this age group of football and we endorse it,” Jones said. “We’ll support it every year. We’ve been crowned champions in the Junior Cup for the last two years, so we’re not going to stop supporting initiatives like this. It helps the boys; it helps enhance the development of grassroots football in our culture.”

ECA could not defend their title on Saturday, falling in the semi-finals to eventual beaten finalists Liberty Academy.

Jones said he was not disappointed with the result, as his priority has always been to ensure the players are learning football’s fundamentals rather than focusing on winning.

“It is always for them to have fun,” he said.

“I know it can be hard sometimes because our culture is a winning culture but at this age, the focus is development. They are not going to win all the time but we want them to always have fun and master the basics.”

He continued, “We teach them the fundamentals of the game and we expect to see them execute those in the game while seeing them having fun and enjoying what they’re doing.”

That is a sentiment echoed by Hillel Academy’s assistant coach John-Ross Daley, who also believes the focus for youth coaches should be on player development rather than tournament wins.

He said competitions like Junior Cup are especially important as it proves to be a learning process not just for the players, but for the coaches as well.

Daley explained young players get to compare their development against their peers in a safe environment, while coaches can learn from each other and see how their players react against different oppositions.

“This is a good experience for the kids and it is also an experience for the coaches to know what we have to work on as well. So these matches are important because we can benefit from it, the coaches and the kids. So honestly, we should have more competitions like this one,” Daley said.

“The kids get to see where they are compared to other kids. The competition may be one age group, but you see some variety in height. So for some kids, this is their first time playing against an 11-year-old that is so tall and for some other kids, it is their first time seeing an 11-year-old so short. So it gives good awareness that height doesn’t play football but it is your skill and technique that makes the difference.”

Lannaman’s Preparation won the Junior Cup eastern regionals on Saturday and the competition will continue with their western regionals at the Wes Pow Park in Montego Bay on October 5.

The competition will then head to Manchester for the central regionals at the Kirkvine Sports Complex on October 12 before returning to Kingston for the all-island finals on October 19.