Haynes wants footballers to get in the Game

National footballer Renson Haynes believes that enough is not being done to get more young footballers from St. Vincent and the Grenadines to access scholarships to attend US colleges.{{more}}

Haynes, a product of a college education in the United States, told SEARCHLIGHT last Tuesday, that the Executive of the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Football Federation and others involved in the sport are not cashing in on the opportunities available.

“Enough is not being done to make a gateway clearer for the youths to go through and be successful”, Haynes said.

“They have a lot of opportunities, but they are not grabbing them”, he added.

Haynes said that while there is a dearth of Vincentian Football presence on the US collegiate circuit, Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica are the dominant regional countries, “with hundreds of ballers”.

However, he promised to use whatever contacts he has made to explore possibilities for local footballers, with the prerequisite aptitude and the right attitude to get in on the US system.

He revealed that coaches are wiling to come down here and seek out new talent, or officials here can take the initiative and get the players out for the coaches to have a look in on them.

Haynes was quick to point out that such opportunities come with a cost, as they require a lot of discipline and focus.

Haynes, who returns regularly to St. Vincent and the Grenadines, said that he recognizes that there is a lot of talent here, as it has always been, but contends that the current crop of emerging players lack the discipline and focus needed to get by.

“I am disappointed in the youths, as they are not focused,” Haynes, who made his senior St. Vincent and the Grenadines team debut in 2001, observed.

He is, therefore, calling on them to set aside their tendencies to be deviant and to concentrate on their Football skills as they could carry them places.

Haynes, using himself as an example, said he was able to get a full four year scholarship worth US $110,000 from 2001 to 2005, at the Central Connecticut State University, and he was able to use it to gain a degree in Industrial Technology, with emphasis on Construction Management.

Haynes, 32, said that apart from obtaining a higher level of education, the outing has done a lot for him personally.

“It has taught me to be disciplined, because when you are in a system, you learn to prepare better, you have to practice two or three times per day, and you cannot be late by one minute or you are out for the day,” Haynes indicated.

Haynes, who said that he still has a few more years of national representation in him, also believes that local Football authorities will have to start to look more to the Diaspora, more so New York, for players to fill places in the senior national team.

Haynes thinks that at present there are about four or five players who can make the national senior team with ease. (RT)