He was a winner from all angles. He epitomized much of what constitutes a good coach, and most essentially, the fruits of his labour were preceded by a playing career, coaching education and dedication to his duties. Derek King stands tall among the handful of young quality coaches in our society and do not stop appreciating his success at just a total table of trophies won by his club Joe Public. In a society where many believe that anyone can be a competent coach, so long as he has played the game at national level and decides to purchase a nice tracksuit to enhance his commercial outlook.
This young man was first seen as a young central defender whose ability to be effective on the field was based strictly on his good positional play, his commitment to win the ball aerially and on the ground. Those coaches who have worked with him in their teams, will vouch for his desire to learn through listening, followed by an absolute desire to implement whatever instructions are given by the coach.We all know that a good listener is a successful learner and Derek fits that bill. Some may claim that he was able to encourage Darryl Warner his manager to purchase quality players which is also the attribute of a good manager. But, maybe we could relate this partnership between Warner and Derek to similar partnerships which have not born fruit at the performance levels at international level.
Mark Hughes, the Manchester City Manager, had an open chequebook from his owner, to buy the likes of Robinho, Adebayor, Carlos Tevez, and a few others in an effort to bring immediate success. Leonardo, the former Brasilian defender of the 1994, was given a cadre of super players at AC Milan FC, but is struggling to keep up the momentum of previous years. Just take a look at the Roy Keanes, John Barnes, and Paul Inces. This magnifies the success of young Derek King and places him among the frontrunners of the young coaches who are attempting to develop in the right manner. Don’t worry! Derek will not be among those who will become arrogant, aggressive or disrespectful to his players. Trust me, he will not punch opposing players who score critical goals against his team, or swear at referees when he does not share his view, and most importantly, he will continue to learn the modern methods of the game as he moves along.
He is special because this country is really short of quality in the business of coaching education and it is the only way that the authorities can make proper choices in the future when it comes to placing our national teams under the care of qualified personnel.
It appeared to me that the Joe Public players played for the success of the coach as well as the club and Kerry Baptiste, who has been under various coaches in the past, was able to express himself positively with the confidence given him by Derek and his assistant Dale Saunders and the others. His choice of “Coach of the Year” is a given, but that is not the feature of the services of this young man. He has all the qualities of being a representative of a profession which demands education in the sport, discipline on and off the field, good communication skills, and someone who will always have the respect of his players.
Our youths can look to him for good examples and we can only hope that the prospective coaches who are involved with teams across the nation, will observe the positive attitude of Derek King. Surely, he still have a long way to go, but in due course, he will achieve his goal. As a growing nation, we have this belief that if it’s not foreign, then its not good enough. Maybe we should start looking at ourselves and our young technicians as comparable to the “foreigners”. Congratulations to Joe Public, its management and most importantly its coaching staff and players.