CL Financial San Juan Jabloteh is boasting of a host of young players currently playing in Secondary Schools League Competition (SSFL).
Jabloteh has paid special attention to its youth programmes this season and its success is evident by the number of outstanding youth players the San Juan-based club has on show in the SSFL this year.
The successful San Juan Secondary team is a prime example, as the likes of goalkeeper Glenroy Samuel, Elijah Manners, Jonathon Romain, Anthony Guppy, Akeil Harley, Akeem Joseph, Joel Russel, Nathan Purcell and Curtis Gonzales are all from Jabloteh’s respective youth teams.
Jabloteh is also responsible for the bulk of the St Anthony’s outfit with Kevin Mussio, Micah Lewis, the prolific striker Lester Peltier, Brendon Boucad and Elton Douglas.
The talented Khaleem Highland of North Zone winners, Mucurapo Secondary Comprehensive, the St Mary’s College duo of Qian Grovesner and Jerome Mendez as well as QRC’S Franz Husbands are all young Jabloteh players making their mark in the SSFL.
The man responsible for overseeing the club’s youth programmes is St Augustine Secondary’s coach Michael Grayson.
Grayson however, has credited the respective team coaches with the development of the players.
“Gwenwyn Cust and Gordon Husbands have been working with the under-16 team and the under-18 team, Nigel Grovesner and Alvin Thomas have been in charge.
“These gentlemen have worked tirelessly with the young men, they all have tremendous experience at this level and they are very well capable of helping our young players develop into better players,” says Grayson.
He said also, “At Jabloteh we have recognised the importance of having a solid youth and developmental programme—and if you want to have an all-round professional club you must start with the youths, at the under-16 and under-18—furthermore what we want to create is a football academy at Jabloteh, with youths coming in as early as the under-11 age group.”
The St Augustine coach also stressed the importance of striking the balance between football and academics, “At Jabloteh we want the youths not just to go on and become professional footballers, but its all about the overall development of the young mind and we are also impressing on them to focus on their academics—there are a number of scholarships being offered and we want our players to benefit and recognise the importance of education.”
The club’s vice chairman Dennis Phillip, who also plays a big role in Jabloteh’s technical development, believes the reason there are so many Jabloteh players doing well in the SSFL is because the young players have enjoyed a long season, having played in the T&T Pro League’s youth competition, just prior to the start of the schools competition.
Phillips, commenting on the success of Jabloteh’s youth development programmes, said there are two main reasons for the success the club is enjoying.
“We made a thorough search of the country especially along the East-West Corridor for the best players possible—and thanks to the pro league our players have been afforded a longer season, playing against the best players in the country.
Phillips said: “There has been a marked improvement in the colleges league this season because the young players have been competing against each other over a consistent period and I am very optimistic that we are going to see a continuous rise in standard at the secondary schools level.”
Phillips says one of the main reasons Jabloteh has embarked on youth development in such a serious way is because of the “lack of our young players to mature quickly”.
“As far as I can remember Dwight Yorke was the last national senior player to represent this country at the age of 17—our younger players today are taking longer to mature—at this stage we have no young players challenging for national team selection. So at Jabloteh we want to do our part in the success of our future national teams and we know if we want to compete globally our players must develop at a faster rate.
“We must bridge the gap between youth football and senior football, not only at Jabloteh but also at the national level.
“Hence, Jabloteh has paid extra attention to our youth programmes this year—and our hope is that in the next year or two we will see 17- and 18-year-olds making serious claims on our national senior team.”
Phillip also said, “I am extremely encouraged with the work that we have done this year with our youth, not only are they making their mark on the secondary schools circuit, but we can now easily identify five to six players who in the next year or two can progress to our senior professional team and when we look at our 15- and 16-year-olds we are even more excited, as we are seeing the fantastic development taking place, as these young men are maturing at a pretty fast rate.”
It is clear that Jabloteh’s youth programme is making and will continue to make a big impact on the development of football in T&T. After all, Jabloteh has made it clear that its goal is about the development of “youth excellence”.
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