Grooming talents vital to football future
by John K Saai. Posted on November 9, 2011, Wednesday
ON THE BALL: Mike Leigh demonstrates to young local footballers the correct techniques of ball control during a development clinic here yesterday. — Photo by Jeffery Mostapa
KUCHING: Sarawak’s football future is inseparably pegged to the development of young talents. There are no two ways about it.
“If Sarawak wants to have a really strong senior team, a lot of efforts are needed to groom the young players through a well-planned programme,” former state coach Alan Vest said.
He reasoned Sarawak was now still short of good players because there was no proper football development here in the past.
“Local talents had previously been overlooked without an efficient long term plan to nurture and tap their potential to the full. To produce good footballers, you need to develop kids from age nine or 10 but here, there have never been any organised development programmes for this,” he said.
Vest acknowledged that running such programmes successfully required a lot of commitment and long term planning, saying tackling and overcoming such a challenge was vital to bring Sarawak football to a high level of excellence it is capable of reaching.
“A better league system for the relevant age groups could be a good start,” he said after conducting a clinic for local youths under the state’s five-year football development plan yesterday.
Vest who took the Bujang Senang outfit up from Division II to Division I in the Semi-pro League well ahead of schedule in just one season and subsequently led the Crocs to FA Cup and Premier League glory in the 1990’s, stressed anyone wishing to become a professional footballer should start from a very early age – certainly not in the late teens.
“I’m sure there are potential players in Sarawak but they need to be caught young. It’s important they learn the basics and acquire good footballing technqiues and habits at an early age. That’s why I have brought Mike (Leigh) along with me because he has greater experience in handling kids,” he added.
During the clinic, Leigh, now attached with West Hampton United International Academy, taught the boys several techniques and exercises they should be able to continue practising even in the absence of coaches.
Vest said: “With what we are doing this (yesterday) morning, we are actually looking 10 years down the road. We want to fully equip the youngsters so that they will not be playing only for the state but also for the country and clubs abroad should they decide to turn pro one day.”
He added that Leigh would be sharing his knowledge with the boys in Kuching as well as those in the other development centres.
“It’s all about techniques. This is because in football what can be more important than learning to use the right techniques. So what we should be teaching them is technique, technique and technique.
“So this was exactly what Mike was telling the kids and what he taught them is something they can do on their own – in fact, they can do it everyday,” Vest said.
Meanwhile, Leigh said to be a good professional footballer, one must not only know how to kick, control and manage the ball.
“It is equally important for a player to have the right ideas, the right habits and the right attitude. Without all these qualities, you can never develop in the game.”
He said teaching football to young children was, thus, all about making them enjoy the game and having fun.
“At their age, there is not much point telling them the system of play. They will not be able to understand. This could come later, depending on the team they play with, but what’s more important in football development is to get the potential players to start early and try to develop among them a passion for the sport.
“In football, winning matches is not the most important thing. Of course, everybody wants to win but it’s not the main thing at the junior level. What you really want is to develop them into good senior players,” Leigh said.
On the present Sarawak team, Vest noted they had made some progress, including the promotion to the Super League next season.
“I’m sure coach Roberts Albert and FAS president Datu Sudarsono Osman know how to strengthen and improve their side because I’m quite sure they are trying to do that.”
He said Sarawak was on the road to further improvement and the squad should be given the chance to prove themselves, depending, of course, on the new players the management would be bringing in next season.
