Passion, love of football and fun drives 'Rambo' Wedderburn
Published:Friday | December 4, 2015 | 5:40 PMPaul Clarke
Western Bureau
Omar Wedderburn, head coach at St Elizabeth Technical (STETHS) could be dubbed the most interesting coach in schoolboy football.
Widely known as "Rambo", the former goalkeeper, who scored ten goals as an outfield player for his beloved STETHS in 1998, recently guided a youthful squad to a sixth-straight Ben Francis KO title, and will take them into a fifth daCosta Cup championship match today against Dinthill Technical.
Wedderburn started at STETHS back in 1995 and played daCosta Cup there for three years ending in 1998.
As a goalkeeper, he was excellent. He was of the same mould as his father Clive "Spider" Wedderburn, the current national goalkeeper coach but with a lot more passion.
Rambo football
This passion and skill has seen him being used at right back, sometimes as a right link player and ultimately in the forward position during his playing days, where his 10 goals in 1998 were a great achievement for a utility player such as he was.
"Those days were the beginning of Rambo football at STETHS. But I had some great people around me. It was Wendell Downswell, who took me to STETHS and he has been a great friend and father-figure to me even now," stated Wedderburn.
"My time playing football has been great, thanks to that man, among others including former STETHS coach Andrew Edwards, whom I understudied before he left for Munro College," he reasoned.
"I learnt a lot from Edwards, and I take that with me all the time, while adding my character to how we play football, which is meant to be a fun, but hard-working way," Wedderburn said.
"It is the only way to have the team performing for each other. We have fun in training and in game situations, and as the coach, I try my best to be a centre of enjoyment for the squad. We laugh over things, but we remain committed and serious about it at the same time," he said.
He listed former national coach Jeffery Maxwell, Jerome Waite, Jackie Walters and current STETHS Technical Director Wendell Downswell, as inspiration.