‘Tappa’ needs physical trainer
Three weeks after Donovan Duckie attributes the national Under-23 poor performance in the Olympic
Qualifiers on the
absence of a physical trainer, head coach of the senior team, Theodore ‘Tappa’ Whitmore, is lamenting the fact that he does not have one at his disposal to get the local-based players ready for the up-and-coming Nations League matches.
The Reggae Boyz are down to play Antigua Barbuda on September 6 and Guyana three days later.
“Right now it’s the JFF that I am waiting on to sort out some outstanding issues they need to sort out, so we are just waiting. But my only worry would be the local players. They are in preseason but what does the preseason consist of? Does it prepare them for international football? Because we already know that it is a different level, so that is my only concern,” he said.
“But it’s really an indictment on our side because our physical trainer is basically with a school(boy football) team now and we would like to have our physical trainer prepare our local players. So that is a next indictment where the programme is concerned.”
PHYSICALLY READY
Duckie accused the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) for not providing him with a physical trainer to prepare the team for what was a disappointing Olympic qualifying campaign. Although Whitmore insists the situations are much different, he hopes to have a designated physical trainer to get the players physically ready for the matches as soon as possible.
“I don’t know what the under-23 coaches faced (with his physical trainer). He faced what he wanted to face. My physical trainer should be getting our local players ready for the Nations League. But I will meet with the general secretary on Wednesday (today) and see where it goes from there. But it can’t be a situation like the under23, they had eight months to prepare and if I have eight months to prepare a team, I don’t want a trainer but I won’t compromise with it,”he declared.
“We know the situation, we know that we have players overseas and we have the local players that are in preseason preparing for the (local) Premier League, so we understand that. But, hopefully, by September, we will get everybody (players and staff), because we play the 6th and the 9th and it will be a quick turn around and our planning and preparation will be very important.”