Discipline within group will be paramount – Head Coach Shabazz

Mar 10, 2015 Sports

By Franklin Wilson
With the Guyana squad to face St. Lucia in an international friendly on March 22 expected to be named later this week, Head Coach Jamaal Shabazz speaking at last week’s press conference to announce his two-year contract with the GFF said that discipline in the team will be paramount.

Brain Storming, Guyana v El Salvador! Head Coach Jamaal Shabazz (left) in discussion with Assistant Coach Wayne Dover (right) and former National Captain J.P Rodrigues.

“If it’s one thing that we want to establish more solid here is that discipline in the group and the fact that the team and the objectives of the team is of paramount importance.”
Shabazz noted that they had that in his last full time sojourn with the Golden Jaguars (2011-2012) and would be the first to admit that his style has always been inclusive meaning that players have always been involved and consulted.
“You know at some point some players always felt that they became bigger than the programme. And now I think with that experience, it makes me now better able to establish discipline and a squad that will confirm.”
Shabazz who has always adopted an open approach to sharing knowledge with other coaches said that he would continue in that vein but will be working closely with the Technical Director Claude Bolton to take care of the needs of the local exponents of the Technical game.
“I think in the Caribbean we’re so antagonistic to learning from each other. For me I am excited to share with anybody and to discuss. We don’t discuss the game enough, we don’t have difference of opinions in each other’s face, and this is a big problem in Caribbean society.”
He said that healthy discussions lead to a healthy football brain and this is something that he encourages among his staff.
“Coach Dover and I have a good relationship, why? Not because he says yes, but because he has an opinion, he shares his opinion and he fights for his opinion and it gives me the benefit of having another view. We had it with Charles Pollard, Chris Nurse with the Cort brothers, they all had their views on how they want the team to play based on their knowledge and experience; and why not invite it.”
New Generation of Coaches Needed
It was the fervent view of Shabazz that there needs to be a new generation of coaches in Guyana emerging to continue the growth and development of the game.
“We have a lot of players coming out of the game and the industry must emerge. With Alpha you have to ask yourself, are there ten coaches in Guyana who could just step into that job and just take up that team and run with it and deal with foreign players coming in, this is where we got to go.”
Shabazz said that he has had to learn Spanish to deal with players who speak the language during his career and this is how coaches ought to think as well as take more pride in the profession by equipping themselves.
“I will go to Rome to learn, when Leo Beenhakker came to Trinidad and Tobago the first time every session he did I had it written down, René Simões told us something at that time, he said I will not be here forever and you must try to learn what you can learn because when your time comes you must be able to implement.”
Being in Guyana Shabazz noted is part of his own development and growth as a coach. “I don’t know everything, I learn every day, and working in Guyana on two occasions has been a big part of my development. If I can give back some of what I have learnt to the new generation of coaches, I am happy to do that.”