Corneal aims to fix youth football

NEW Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation director of youth development Anton Corneal has pinpointed areas which he says need immediate focus. This is notwithstanding the fact that the main focus over the next year and more will be on TT’s qualifying bid for the 2006 World Cup Finals in Germany. Corneal, along with technical director Lincoln Phillips were formally introduced to local coaches on Sunday at a meeting at the Dr Joao Havelange Centre of Excellence. Both men spoke of measures being taken to ensure that specific emphasis is placed on the overall development of the game here, away from the senior team’s programme.

“When you think of my role around the technical committee, it’s really one of setting up a structure for the game at the youth level. The problems we experienced at the top started maybe 10 years ago, and if we don’t fix them, then they will continue to hamper our football,” Corneal said. “This is where the need comes in for us to place more emphasis on our 9, 10 and up to 15-year-olds who are playing the game, in order to have a solid foundation to produce top teams at the Under-20, Under-23 and senior levels. Of course this will take time but any type of proper planning does take time,” Corneal said. “We must have continuity from year to year because right now we are producing players ad-hoc. Some clubs do a good job and some coaches get a job done but they are not really doing it based on a structure, but more from experience they have in the game. I am hoping this is where I can make a change,” said Corneal who will also be serving as deputy technical director.

He added that among his first steps is to get local coaches on board a committee in order to have them all sharing the same vision. “We need to have coaches aboard and letting them be part of this structure so they can have a better idea of what we are setting out to accomplish.” “From there, we will be implementing systems involving youth teams and the development of the players in and out of competitions. This will all be done through a syllabus, which in ways will be similar to a school syllabus and then we can measure the progress over a period of time,” he said. Youth male and female clubs from various leagues starting from the Pro League right down to the amateur and community-based clubs as well as  secondary to primary schools will be targeted by Corneal and his assistants.
 
Corneal, a former national player and youth team coach, has been working with the Piedmont Soccer Alliance club in North Carolina, United States which is made up of 27-youth teams and continues to produce several players who make it into the United States Colleges Division One League through scholarships and have also had players move into the United States National youth programme. “I am hoping that we can pretty much do the same here by getting our players to be able to compete at a high level internationally.” “This of course comes over a period of time. Some people are prepared to wait while others are not and I am hoping that we can go into a situation here where we can put that structure into place and see the fruits down the road,” he added.