Speid gets to work on football philosophy
Published:Tuesday | October 7, 2025 | 12:09 AMLivingston Scott/Gleaner Writer
THE RELENTLESS call for a national football philosophy and system of play is finally about to be answered says Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) Technical Committee Chairman Rudolph Speid, after the federation recently assigned a list of local coaches to the various national youth teams, male and female.
Speid said the intention is for these coaches to come together and develop a system and philosophy for the country, and also to help young national players better make the transition through the ranks.
Vassell Reynolds will take charge of the under-14 boys, with Lewin Purser as his assistant.
Andrew Peart will continue to guide the under-15s, with the assistance of Reynolds.
Wendell Downswell will lead the under-17 programme and will be assisted by Reynolds, Altimont Butler, and Carlton Simmonds
Rodolph Austin will head the under-20 programme, while Downswell will assist him.
The under-14 and under-15 girls will be coached by Tamera Williams and assisted by Sashana Campbell, while Marlon Hylton will coach the under-17 girls and will also be assisted by Campbell. Leacroft Letteman will guide the under-20s with Williams to assist him.
According to Speid, the technical committee is following the blueprint that successful First-World countries use, where they appoint some of their best local coaches to guide national youth teams, and develop an identifiable system of play that will lift the country’s football to another level.
“This is nothing new. It the same thing Spain has done, and England. Germany has done it. So the First-World countries have done it. And if you look at them, they all use their local coaches at that level.
“The English do it and they have reached numerous youth world finals and European finals and senior European finals. The Dutch do it. Belgium do it. Germany do it and won the World Cup. Everybody does it. But it’s going to take time,” he said.
He said gone are the days when a national youth team changed coaches after every tournament, as these coaches will be in place for the foreseeable future.
He pointed out that another important element in their efforts is the Concacaf coaching education programe, under which all the coaches have been educated in the last five years.
“The whole idea is to build a style and a system of play. All the coaches had their education in the same system and they have done it in the past five years.
“Everybody has trained the same way in the same coaching school. So we will be able to sit and discuss the football locally, because all of us will be here and it will be easier to coordinate the jumps from the different age divisions,” he said.
“The last time we had (Andrew) Peart, then Altimont Butler, (John) Wall and Hallgrimmson as coach of the under-20s. So we had four different coaches confusing the players, because they all had different philosophies, background, everything.
“So now we are making sure it is standardised. And we have put that in place for the women as well.”
Over the years, some of the brightest talent at the youth level have disappeared, failing to make the transition for various reasons.
However, Speid said with this approach, coaches will be better positioned to help the young players make the transition up to the senior ranks.
“It is a structure where, if they did under-15, they will assist under-17 because that coach will be able to tell the coach about the players. So they will not start all over again. It will be a continuous programme,” he said.
According to Speid, signs of what the philosophy and system will look like should take about a year to begin showing itself.
“It’s a long-term thing that can take up to 10 years. But maybe in the next three to five years you will really see everything come into being.
“The signs are there. We just have to be patient. Between two to three years we will see something. But after a year, we might see some signs. So you might see it earlier,” he said.