David Monk (second right), senior international football development officer, Chelsea FC, selects balls along with players participating in the Digicel KickStart Clinic at Barbican playing field yesterday. - Ricardo Makyn/Staff Photographer
David Monk, the senior international football development officer of European champions Chelsea FC, urged Jamaica's youngsters to take full advantage of the coaching being offered to them by members of his technical staff.
Monk, who was speaking at the official launch of the Jamaica leg of Digicel KickStart Clinics, said he was looking forward to working with Jamaica's young players.
"Your destiny is in your hands," said Monk during the launch, which was held at the Barbican playing field yesterday.
"It will depend on how far you want to take this, either to represent your club or your country, and even at the KickStart Clinics in Barbados, then try hard, work hard and express yourselves, because we want to see your personalities," said Monk.
He added: "We know from your rich history in football the standards are going to be very high and the expectations are high. I had the first-hand experience of coaching the three Jamaican players at the KickStart academy in October in Barbados and I was very impressed," Monk said.
Thirty of Jamaica's young footballers were selected by the Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association to participate in the two-day clinic, which provided firsthand practical experience and technical guidance for the boys yesterday. Today's exercise will involve the coaches.
Three players were originally slated to be selected at the end of yesterday's clinic, for a place in the Digicel Academy - a weeklong elite training camp in Barbados.
Monk said the Jamaican players are very athletic and disciplined, which made it difficult to select those for the Barbados camp.
"We are looking for positional versatility, we are looking for a hard worker and we are looking for someone who wants to express themself, and the final thing is that they enjoyed themselves playing football," Monk said.
"I know that a lot of them don't even realise the opportunity that they have here and the type of coaches that are here and the level of expertise that will be loaned to them."
The clinic is in its second year of association with Chelsea FC. In addition to the focus on youngsters, the coaches will visit a few local schools and host coaching certification classes for football tutors around the region.
This year's programme will also benefit from a new testing process, which is aimed at measuring an individual's speed, agility and aptitude, both on and off the ball. It is geared towards measuring the potential of young players to cope with the modern game.
Following the Jamaica leg, there will be other clinics in Suriname, Grenada, St Vincent, St Kitts, St Lucia, Panama and Antigua.
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