Broadley delivers his master plan
@$:BYLINE-FRANK:By KYLEHUNTERSports EditorBODY-FRANK:"I am not reinventing the wheel," said Bermuda Football Association technical director Derek Broadley this week.BODY-FRANK-2:The Englishman was referring to his master plan to restructure football in Bermuda starting from the 11-year-olds right up to the national team.Since taking over the job as technical director earlier this year, Broadley said he has noticed that Bermuda "spends a lot of resources going to tournaments but not enough time (and resources) preparing for tournaments". He said:"I want to get football moving during my tenure. I want a national way of playing and a national style of playing." To that end he wants to hire two full-time positions ¿ a National Staff Coach and a National Youth Director ¿ as well as five male and three female coaches on a part-time basis."Structure is the important thing. Now that the structure is here we have to find the right people who will fill those places. I think there are people on the island who can fill those places," said Broadley adding that when he was Academy Director at Crystal Palace in England they used a plan similar to what he will be putting into place in Bermuda."I am not reinventing the wheel ¿ if you go to most places this is the kind of structure they use," he said.Broadley himself will oversee the youngest age group ¿ the Under 11s. "The national programme will start with the Under 11s but not in terms of international games. It will be coaching and training. I want to appoint a coach for each of the age groups ¿ Under 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 and Under 20 and national team."The NationalStaff Coach will also work with the Under 12s while the National Youth Director will work with the Under 13s as well as being the women's national coach.Both the National Staff Coach and National Youth Director will not be allowed to work with any club and they will also be required to become qualified referees which will boost the number of refs in Bermuda ¿ an area which is badly in need of help."I want age specific programmes for the players ¿ right from the Under 11s to the national (senior) team," said Broadley."We have enough talent in Bermuda to manage this system," he said adding that he also would like to see the clubs in Bermuda adopt a similar system."Right now everything (in football) in Bermuda is operating independently. We need people who are multi-skilled who also can specialise in certain areas."He said that previously the BFAwould appoint a head coach and "they would go out and seek their own people so there was no consistency. So what we have to do is put a structure in place that will give us that consistency. We can develop from one year to the next."Broadley said that the National Staff Coach would also be the national head coach. "It is important that we have the right person," he said.Currently Kenny Thompson is the national head coach and Broadley said that Thompson, who he described as an "excellent candidate", would have to reapply for the job. "The jobs are open to everybody at the moment. I have been approached by certain people who want to get involved and since I have been on the island I have met with many people formally and informally who would like to get involved but who, for whatever reason, have not been involved in the past."I have to put a structure in place that will improve football and, to be honest, that structure has not been there. Sure the Under 17, Under 20 and national teams have done well independently but I want to bring them all together and I am sure we can improve on what we have done already." Asked how he would chose the two full-time positions, Broadley said: "I am going to seek some help from some people on the island who I respect and we also have a technical committee (at the BFA). But quite frankly I have to be comfortable with the people (chosen)."He hopes to get all the part-time coaches into position by October and said now that the BFAhas a "home" field ¿ the Gym Field at Prospect ¿ there is a base for a training centre. "Now we have a home and a training centre we can implement the things I am talking about ¿ coaching education and player development."The continued development of the national team needs to be improved, said Broadley."The national team get together three months before an event and then fold. You can't have that happen if you want continual development ¿ you have to have them regularly. With the Gym Field coming on line, I want to work with the clubs. At the peak of the season we need access to they players once a week. "Another criticism of how BFAoperates is how many players get involved in a campaign with any given national team. (With this new plan) there will be real stability. You pick 18 guys and work them. At the minute we have players who want to come and then don't want to come."Looking back to when Bermuda hosted Trinidad this summer in the second leg of 2010 World Cup qualifying, Broadley said: "With the Trinidad game it was a flash in the pan. You have one game every four years where everyone queues around the streets for tickets."Broadley said he wanted to see that with all home games."We have the raw talent here in Bermuda ¿ we just need to develop it," he added.