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Trinidad and Tobago Women’s National Senior Team star and former captain, Maylee Attin-Johnson, responds to the TTFA’s decision not to re-appoint “Women Soca Warrior” coach Randy Waldrum:
(Courtesy TTFA Media)
Without a doubt, we are very much saddened and highly disappointed by the departure of coach Randy Waldrum. For the mere fact that he was the only coach to ever publicly stand up for us.
He never allowed himself to conform to the status quo. He brought a level of professionalism, experience, visibility and attention to the Women’s program that no other coach has ever done.
But, most importantly, he brought structure and a sense of organisation that we never had.
We are truly going to miss his expertise and the love he has for us.
But at the end of the day, whether I step away from the game today or tomorrow or any other coach or player leaves, football still goes on.
So sometimes we have to accept the things we cannot change.
(Courtesy CONCACAF)
So it’s imperative that we respect the new coach that will be taking us through these qualifiers and give him the same effort and commitment that we did to coach Randy.
Maylee Attin-Johnson
Editor’s Note: Click HERE to read Randy Waldrum’s farewell letter to Trinidad and Tobago women’s football fans.
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From the response of Maylee, it sounds like she is not too thrilled about the change.
..No comment on that except to say the selection appears to be drawn from a very narrow circle..
Congrats to Jinelle James…. I truly think she has a contribution to make
Now read d technical committee and do not know what to make of it!! Very very interesting!!
would love to hear Keith Look Loy take on it?
I like Stuarty for youth
classic
Position filled!
http://wired868.com/2016/01/13/hood-is-t-charles-fevrier-on-ttfas-technical-committee/
Rob Hooker can fly out today
For an interview? They can do that via Skype. Is he prepared to work for free too?
he is waiting by his PC … as for working for free … TTFA is about to change their ways (I hope)
Whats the total package they’re offering?
what is wrong with advertising the position then selecting the best canditate/.
In general? Nothing. A couple weeks away from an Olympic qualifying tournament? A lot.
So not as much is wrong with the ex-coach’s son inheriting the team.
Inheriting the team? They weren’t with the team in December for the USA victory tour? You’re going into a major tournament and you think it’s best to dump a new coaching staff on the team? I’m talking about continuity for this tournament. Not forever.
That is a convenient response yuh know. Didn’t Randy get the team a few weeks before the start of the WC qualifying tournament?
So we’re just going to keep thrusting new coaches on the women’s team mere weeks before a major tournament? We haven’t seen what coaching continuity is doing for the men?
Because there is no place on planet rock that sort of arrangement is allowed to happen (except here) and folks not challenge it. Where in the world is a coach allowed to spend a couple weeks at a time coaching then leaving for a month or so.
1. You’re making it sound like all the women are in one place and the coach comes for a couple weeks and then leaves them all in the same place, which isn’t the case. And 2. Even if that were the case, then Waldrum Jr. who knows the players and seems to have no commitments elsewhere, and can provide continuity and continued stability to the team ahead of this very important tournament could have just been shipped down for the necessary period of time.
A core group of players are home based. Just as Ben Jr knows the players Hood may know them better because he was an assistant at the U17 WC where some would have played and has had a stint with some as senior coach.
I don’t have a problem with Randy yuh know, I think his accomplishments in the US collegiate game speaks for itself.
What was our dispute? Lol
I just have major concerns with the ‘sweetbread’ arrangement given to him and the fact that he was hired on 2 occasions without being compared to any other canditate/s.
I think it is for this same reason Chris Tanner can suggest that her client Robbie Hooker be hired. (lol)
Ok. And I would concur with that. I just think that weeks away from a major tournament you shouldn’t completely overhaul your coaching staff especially when you called them up for a tournament in December.
And you shouldn’t give a weak excuse like not submitting a document within a ridiculous deadline.
btw absolutely no dispute. Just engaging in a healthy discussion on this issue.
His management style might be that he’s a stickler for time/deadlines.
Be that as it may, you have to give reasonable deadlines.
Actually Kester, Waldrum had the women’s team about four months before the CONCACAF tournament. And many foreign coaches come in and leave.
Beenhakker did it, Schafer does it in Jamaica, Capello did it in Russia… And Stephen Hart does it!
Hart’s family is still in Canada. He is between both countries.
Now, if you point out the fact that Waldrum missed the Pan Am tournament. That is unconscionable. Not so much him not being stationed here.
And we know the reality is the TTFA doesn’t pay him. So it isn’t strange that he priorities his Houston job.
If i remember correctly he came in when the team was preparing to camp at the Beach Camp Club in Palo Seco. He left after the 10 days and was making arrangements for the Houston camp while players were running the sessions. We cannot compare what happens in some of the other countries you’ve named because that is a result of the acreage separating players. I have a very good Jamaican friend whose daughter was selected for the US u17 team. They meet 4 times a year in Carson to practice. The rest of the time, they’re monitored through the clubs and the tournaments they play. That is a convenient system for a country that size. We don’t have that challenge so why have we adopted that model?
But Beenhakker did the same thing. Hart does too. Right in Trinidad. And both did pretty well I think.
The Palo Seco camp wasn’t the first time he had the team. He had them for about two months before that.
Trinidad and Tobago doesn’t really have a women’s programme and even the WOLF seems to be hit and miss and players sometimes just skip it or pick and choose games.
That’s where you start. It doesn’t make sense to have a national team in training year round. Many coaches have tried that and failed.
Chabeth Haynes are you suggesting that the position be again given away again? Isn’t that the kinda thing everyone was opposed to JAW for?
Huh?
Why didn’t they ask Waldrum Jr? Isn’t he unattached. There would have been some measure of continuity with him there mere weeks before the tournament.
Not if they want to control the coach…. not a chicken tender!
I had suggested that the TTFA should invite tenders for ALL positions. Sigh. Not that he should necessarily get the job. But everyone should have a fair chance to throw their hat in the ring.
Will follow up if I can.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robbie_Hooker
yes … Sheldon Scipio has his CV now … he is our client (also an Australian international himself)
Really Chris? Any proof of that?
former Australian (men’s and women’s) assistant coach Robbie Hooker has put his hand up for the job
I don’t. But he worked with some players in the WPL and that went well. Nobody has suggested there is a problem with Hood. Although one player did point out that his last spell with the national women was a disaster.
Because I would like to hope he’s not being set up…
Funny enough, Police FC are having their best ever run in the Pro League. They were second yesterday. They promptly lost as soon as news leaked that their coach might be leaving. Lol.
I have no idea what his terms of reference will be though. In terms of if he leaves his Pro League job to coach the women.
If so, I hope they have sourced funding to give him a salary.
Here’s the problem. When you play under a coach who’s professional and knows the game, the next coach you play for had better know his stuff, because he will never get the same respect.
Agree…and that is why some of our local coaches lose respect fron their charges. They’re not into the business of separating on field activities from off field and would prefer to be friends rather than coach/mentor/advisor
Savitri Maharaj Prefer to be friends. Wink! Wink!
Lol…no comment eh
Just an aside here Lasana…do we know how comfortable the ladies are to work with Hood or what was their reaction when the news was given?