The Author and the Project
A Government of Jamaica scholar who attended Temple University, Philadelphia Pa. USA, Eric U. Williams completed a BSc. in Physical Education (Sports Coaching & Human Performance Lab) in 1979. He followed up immediately to gain a Masters in Educational Administration (Curriculum Development and School Leadership) in 1980.
His scholarship studies were for a leadership role at the G.C Foster College of Physical Education and Sport in Jamaica. But the chance to take on the leadership challenge at a new tertiary institution loomed way too early for the Author.
So instead, with intervening circumstances occurring quickly, he went to lecturer at his alma mater, Mico University Teachers’ College. This was during preparation for the students of batch #1 to arrive at the new Passley Gardens Teachers College Portland, Jamaica. It was January, 1981. Although the Project then was only a flicker of light, it was indeed a new dawning for soccer/football!
The world was getting wider and calling louder
By 1983, the Author joined the Jamaica Industrial Development Corporation (JIDC) as a Training Officer. His next move was to Things Jamaican Limited as Training, Business, and Product Development Director in 1986 and wounded up as Managing Director in 1996
In 1997, he was Production Manager at the Combined Tobacco Company. However, the author’s soccer/football agenda was ever-present and growing in achievement, status, and confidence.
Still, life kept calling. He moved to Jamaican Promotion Corporation (JAMPRO) as an Industrial Manpower Development Specialist for 3 years. Thereafter it was to the United States Peace Corps in Kingston, for most of the next decade, as the Pre-Service Training Director for the Volunteers. Then finally, the Director of the Training Unit at the Jamaica National Irrigation Commission Limited up to May 2012.
Looking back and processing the journey
Since high school his unbroken soccer/football-work-study years, tally at 59. All this while coaching club leaders, teams, coaches, and just about anyone who would listen. The results were outstanding according to the 90% who were not affected by such aggressive imposition on their game. The Almighty’s demand from everyone for high-quality performance in the way they did their jobs, was often extremely risky.
This litany gives an insight into the author’s lifestyle. It exposes interests and experiences gained in job training, management, leadership, and coaching soccer/football. Further forays in academic and professional work in organization development consultation, and delivering training as a private contractor, never ceased. Notable was the consistent show of increasing leadership responsibilities and long-term commitment. His resume indicating a well-grounded and appropriately unique preparation for this Project.
Over all this time, and for an extended period, coaching, keeping fit, and looking for a team on which to be the worst player. This was his mission of greatest disappointment as everywhere he had to be forcefully pulling up the socks of lagging teammates, and coaches!
But it forced the Whisperer into excessive chatter about the application of common sense, collective intelligence, high-performance team play, and volunteer coaching. Leading as President, Honorary Life Member, Mentor, and Sponsor at the Maverley-Hughenden [soccer] Football Club, the Whisperer stayed on the pitch during the off-season time…and even when off Island.
Road to the Project and Academy
In 2012 the confident decision to retire early and give all to this Project was easy: Mico U called all its graduates to ”Do it with thy might“, while Temple U had asserted “The Temple Owls are Everywhere – “Perseverantia Visit/Perseverance Conquers”, both mantras still hold and keep him going with the confidence of a true champion.
The Academy for Club Development Consultants is derived from 59 years of active interest in the intellectual aspects of the game of soccer/football. In earlier times ‘coaching’ Real Madrid and Barcelona from the neighbors’ black and white TV sets in the sixties, was a good way to build the grit and required confidence to coach anyone and everyone today.
His preparation practice includes teaching Arts and crafts, Biology, General Science, and Physical Education. His advanced degrees no doubt played a major role in his contemplation to produce this uniquely specialized Project… Educational Administration – Curriculum Development, with post-master/Doctorial Studies in Institutional Development Leadership. Unwittingly, the exposure to these areas of study provides direction toward finding these missing concepts in qualitative performance measures and leadership.
The earlier specialized training in the Human Performance Laboratory, Soccer/Football Licensing, and Coaching Certification courses were important during the process. Playing at all age levels is greatly important for supplying the confidence to write and demonstrate the technical rudiments of critical skills and in-game successful decisions. Playing with any team requires that any player called ‘Coach’ must be the one that most seldom loses the ball!
Much received, and given on the way…
Constantly coaching and playing all sorts of sports, given the precisely relevant and appropriate hands-on, background experiences needed to conceive of, and execute, this complex Project. Also, where he played in the tough inner-cities and suburbs of Kingston, only DJs, thugs, and footballers get informal “gladiatorships” with a spontaneous and unanimous nick-name from a single incident or consistent performance. He is still ‘Sir Genius’ today, but only because 35 seasons ago he could not find a quick, strong argument to decline the moniker, when the younger players had stronger reasons to insist…
He worked in designing industrial manpower development and organizational development training. The training was with cutting-edge praxis for implementing job training curricula; it was well-timed. All this was necessary to issue this unique result, so well needed at this time. Read the 100 Principles and get a SFW Academy Consultant to train your Clubs, and yourselves to command a Mastership in High-Performance Soccer Football to put your club at the top…
In earlier times the Whisperer served as the Sports Master at Vauxhall Secondary High School in Kingston (1970-77), where he inherited, and ably continued their sporting dynasty, which had started from as early as 1965. His immediate predecessors were Mr. K. Plummer and Mr. F. Pearson his assistant.
The author attended Mico [University] Teachers College from 1968-71, after graduating from Ardenne High School in June of 1967. But the essential groundings in sport and the fixation on soccer/football fittingly came out of a tough Kingston’s Olympic Gardens community. Between 1956 and 1976, a section notoriously dubbed ‘Compound’ was the neighborhood.
The Whisperer got the opportunity to coach at Wolmer’s and other notable high schools at different periods through the seventies. Later he became Head Coach/Technical Director at the Maverley-Hughenden FC in the early eighties.
It was he and his staff that first propelled his club into league football, from community league to the third division and up to the first division, from 1983 to 1987. Coach Rupert Williams continued the tradition into the 90s.
Experience in international cross-cultural exchanges
The Whisperer experienced the intensity demanded for the high-performance game, often taken for granted by internationals. A new perspective and a notably strong, positive influence placed on him by the Philadelphia Fevers (US Major Indoor Soccer League 1978-80). It was a telling and memorable time when he trained with the team at Girard College field, and the Armory and Gym in the Winter.
But unlike his buddy George Leschiv of Temple U. Owls, no caps for the Whisperer without a work permit. The experience gained for the Whisperer to mix in and feel the intensity of top-flight training was priceless. Just to gauge the high quality of the players in that squad helped to redefine many new benchmarks.
Members of the Fevers were considered among the best in the league during the period:
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To Train and Keep Pace With Players Like These Philadelphia Fevers Require High Performance & Top Flight Match Fitness And Confidence
Fred Grgurev (1978-79) 24 Apps 46 Goals
Joey Fink (1978-81) 61 Apps 81 Goals
Alberto Alves (1978-79) 24 Apps 20 Goals
Woody Hartmann (1978-79)22 Apps 10 Goals
George Leschiv (1978-79)
Bob Rigby (1979-80)
Bobby Smith (1979-80)
Figure1.1. They played with crazy intensity (From Wikipedia)
The author believes that reading and understanding words are important, as well as having heated discussions and observing the outcomes. But doing so will not be enough to get an appreciation of what commitment to training for the top-flight game feels like. This high intensity can only be truly felt when you attempt to train amongst the toughest.
Coaches who read the Whisperer’s seminal works, do not necessarily have to play at top flight to coach successfully. But it will be an advantage to have felt the intensity of serious training, especially if the amateur coach is also planning on implementing the conditioning himself. Hopefully, the training will include weights, with a lot of ball work included in the cardiovascular program.
Summary
During the 1970s the Author coached his teams to five championships of seven during a seven-year winning streak, including a Triple Crown season in 1972. In the early to mid-eighties, the Whisperer head-coached the Maverley-Hughenden FC team through the club’s meteoric rise, from sub-division to second division and later helped them reach the first division National Premier League. (see maverleylinkup.com). He is also the first elected President of the Club. The Whisperer later founded the Washington Strikers Masters Football Club based at Maverley, Kingston, Jamaica and served as a sponsor, CEO, captain, coach, and technical director for over 13 seasons
Today, the Marverly – Hughenden FC are the Major League Champions, sponsored and heavily influenced by the England striker Raheem Sterling who is originally from the community.
Finally, the Soccer Football Whisperer, your Author, presents a functional blend of street, academia, and confidence to bring predictive intelligence to the table for the advancement of the game.
