COACH ALFRED HENRY AN EXAMPLE OF WHAT’S WRONG WITH SCHOOLBOY SPORTS

Alfred Henry, coach of Jamaica College’s Manning Cup team has been suspended by the Inter-secondary School Sports Association (ISSA) for one year for an incident that occurred during a Manning Cup match between the school he coaches and Denham Town High on November 10. That incident involved Henry verbally abusing a referee and bringing the game into disrepute. His suspension runs from November 28, 2012 to November 27, 2013.

He has since resigned his position from the school but the short-tempered coach faces further sanctions following his actions at the recently concluded Walker Cup final where he again took on the referee after his team lost 0-1 to 2012 champions Wolmer’s Boys’. This kind of behaviour is not new to Alfred Henry. Lest we forget, this is a coach who was suspended between November 2009 and November 2010 for similarly boorish behaviour. It is safe to say that this has become a trend for Henry, who is a trained teacher and a trained journalist; a man who holds a Masters degree in Communications. Obviously, he is not putting what he has learned into practice.

From a broader perspective; perhaps persons like Coach Henry should not be allowed to coach schoolboy sports. Sports as far as I am concerned are in schools to encourage physical activity and good health, to teach responsibility, respect for authority and teamwork and to identify and develop athletic talent. With this in mind, persons such as Henry are not a good fit. Yes, he may be a great coach but his character is what is on trial here. In sports, we learn to take the good with the bad – you win some, you lose some. It is what it is. It is also true that bad decisions made on the field of play can be challenged in the boardroom thereafter and this is what makes Coach Henry’s actions so indefensible.

In hindsight it was no surprise when Junior Flemming came face to face with the referee after he received a red card late in the Walker Cup final. Flemming, the national under-17 captain demonstrated boisterous behaviour similar to that shown by his head coach, when what he should have done is leave the field of play and leave it up his school to file a protest afterward if he feels he was wronged. But when you consider that this could be the example Henry has set for his team by his own boorishness. It is why he has no place in schoolboy sports.

Henry is also an example of what is wrong with schoolboy sports in Jamaica. No longer are schoolboy sports about the participation; getting kids involved in physical activity that will prevent the onset of childhood obesity, getting them fit and strong and just having fun. Now, sports in high school have become almost solely about winning. Over time, too many coaches have started to take sports too seriously.

It is what we see schools ‘buying’ student athletes under the guise of giving them better opportunities when in truth it is the school that buys that benefit while increasingly, after victory has been attained, the ‘asset’ is discarded; abandoned without having had the benefit of the ‘better’ education that was guaranteed. It is why people like Lascelles ‘Muggy’ Graham are railing against such practices and why Minister of Education Ronnie Thwaites is promising to take action against the ‘buying’ of athletes.

Winning is important , yes. Learning how to win is a valuable lesson that is best learned at an early age but not to the extent that we now see every day in high school sports in Jamaica. Sport is also about passion and if we take the fun out of sport at this level pretty soon we could see more of our talented children opt for other pursuits; those where fun can be had and where valuable lessons can still be learned. Coach Henry is a symptom of what has gone wrong with high school sports in Jamaica, something that desperately needs to be fixed.

One also has to wonder that given his history why was he brought back after his suspension was lifted in 2010, surely Jamaica College’s administrators must have known that you can’t teach and old dog new tricks and that there was little chance that Henry was not going to return a rehabilitated individual. As ISSA’s George Forbes declared, Henry is always blaming someone else for whatever goes wrong.

Let’s hope that now that he has been suspended again, Henry stays away for a long time and lets hope that the lessons learnt from his behaviour will be readily grasped and serve to improve the fun factor in school sports.

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10 Responses to “COACH ALFRED HENRY AN EXAMPLE OF WHAT’S WRONG WITH SCHOOLBOY SPORTS”

Uforatie says:

November 29, 2012 at 5:44 pm

Is there any wonder there is so much discipline problem in Jamaica, when we have people like these working with children and young peopl?
I hope the people in charge of schoolboy sports in Jamaica see to it that this guy stays as far away from working with school children as possible.
This guy should be banned for life from working at any school. But knowing the way things are in Jamaica, I wouldn’t be surprised if he is given a slap on the wrist and be back coaching some Manning or DaCosta team in a few months.
I hope I’m wrong and that this guy be made an example of!
horace says:

November 30, 2012 at 9:17 am

Uforatie
Are you serious about banning someone for life for being boisterous? Did he physically hurt anyone? Did he threatened anyone? Ban him yes but for life?

I trust you are living a wonderful life free of mistakes. I trust you are able to always control your emotions when you feel that your kids are not treated fairly.

I am a Jamaican coaching in the states and I would not do display that kind of anger but asking the establishment to ban someone for life for just being angry does not make sense. Think about it and post again.
patrick clarke says:

November 30, 2012 at 9:21 am

Not condoning indiscipline anywhere,but have realized that jamaican sport boss’ from refs to officials act like dictators,they too need to be suspened when they over step their boundaries.
Anthony Gilbert says:

December 2, 2012 at 3:26 am

Personally, banning this man for life is a joke.. We don’t even want to ‘ban’ well known ‘public servants’ who are guilty of far more! BAN CORRUPT POLITICIANS, POLICE AND ‘UNCIVIL-SERVANTS’ OF THE ‘EAT-A-FOOD’ PARADIGM HAVE PUT JAMAICA IN THIS HOLE WE ARE IN AND GET LAUDED EVERYDAY AS ‘GREAT’

What seems to be lost in this is the man’s service to the school & his development & nurturing of young men to become productive members of society, and yes, he has made an error of judgement, but is a/this football coach really Jamaica’s biggest problem? SERIOUSLY?

I hardly heard any of his critics say ‘well, why don’t we try to help the man if he has a a problem?’… this man is far from Jamaica’s problem but what is a big part is the mercilessness for their fellow-man.. I don’t know this coach, never went to JC and never have been affiliated or ever spoke to him but somehow I wonder if the merciless critics were exposed in their moment of weakness , how they would act. To me, ISSA should step up and show their mettle and along with JC, or concerned civic groups, offer some kind of counseling or whatever is required in addition to either them or JC issuing some some action.

JFF is guilty of way more poor judgement and I haven’t heard any ‘groundswell’ say to ban them..
Lance says:

December 3, 2012 at 6:41 am

My question on a side point: Is it ok for Campion College and Immaculate to recruit for students with the highest GSAT grades?

Isn’t this the same policy as other schools recruiting for athletes? so the goodly minister has to do something about this practice as well…
paulyranks says:

December 3, 2012 at 6:21 pm

i have know alfred for many years and he has been an advocate for his players both on and off the field. he has sucessfully mentored several players of solid character and has helped them to futher theirn the heat of battle the tempers can flare. i think the author needs to revisit his call for a life ban on alfred as alfred has contributed more to schoolboy football than he has taken from it. live and learn all of us can do that.
Jakan says:

December 4, 2012 at 11:42 am

No one wants to support indiscipline BUT my heart goes out to the coach. There are many INCOMPETENTS taking jobs that are beyond their capacity, than add those to the many NINCOMPOOPS and CROOKS and they would anger Job. I have met them in my time and they are more than many today
donovAn says:

December 4, 2012 at 2:15 pm

I AM IN TOTAL AGREEMENT WITH EVERYTHING SAID EXCEPT ‘ FILING PROTEST ‘ THIS JUST DOSN’T WORK. I HAVE NEVER SEEN A FINAL REPLAYED BASED ON ANY PROTEST, LENNON HIGH SCHOOL MIGHT HAVE BEEN DA’COSTA CUP WINNERS IF THIS NOTION WAS PROBABLE. SHAME ON THIS TEACHER/ COACH , AN OBVIOUSLY ESTEEMED PERSON IN ACADEMICS WHO WILTS UNDER THE PRESSURE BROUGHT ON BY INCOMPETENT OFFICIATING. WHILST NOT CONDONING MR. HENRY’S BEHAVIOUR IT IS TIME WE START FINING /SUSPENDING OR EVEN DECERTIFYING SOME OF THESE REFEREES AND UMPIRES WHO THEMSELVES ARE THE ONE ACTUALLY BRINGING GAMES INTO DISREPUTE .
Vicrous Gordon says:

December 5, 2012 at 4:02 am

I agree that the coach overreacted and did not set a good example for his charges. However it is difficult to remain quiet when you see decisions going against you consistently. I did not see the game so I do not know if the referee was biased or just incompetent but I would like to see incompetent match officials punished in some way or another.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, this type of behaviour is never justified and I hope that sportsmen behave as sportsmen. By the way, winning at the schoolboy level is now very important or you wouldn’t find schools spending hundreds of thousands of dollars just trying to win a trophy
DeeRich says:

December 14, 2012 at 12:57 pm

Bad behavior by coaches and “buying” of players are two different things and I am not sure how one leads to another. The writer has to be careful that he is not making baseless conjectures about recruiting or buying players as there is context to everything. He should instead provide strong evidence that substantiate his claims that student athletes are discarded after serving their intended purpose. I keep hearing these arguments by people like “Muggy” Graham and the Education Minister but nothing substantive to support these claims.

I believe Henry is a very good coach but has serious behavioral issues. The last time he was suspended; Was there any attempt by ISSA to offer counselling to Henry? On what basis was he re-instated? Did he demonstrate any changes in his attitude? What about the school itself, JC, why did they believe he was again ready to resume coaching duties given his past indiscretions?

I am not making any excuses for his behavior and strongly condone his actions, however I believe the system that ISSA has in place is seriously flawed. They also have a responsibility to ensure that the coaches are properly screened and are “fit” to impart their coaching principles and philosophies to our children. A school athletic coach is not only responsible for shaping our children’s athletic abilities but as the writer intimated “to teach responsibility, respect for authority and teamwork”. Clearly a coach who is unable to conduct himself in a professional and dignified manner in front of his charges will find it difficult to impart these life lessons.

ISSA as the governing body for high school sports has a responsibility to ensure the people who have influence on our kids are of good character by doing the requisite due diligence.