As Jamaica’s Under-17 Reggae Boyz look to the CONCACAF Championship in Panama next year, their coach, Andrew Edwards, has made a shopping list.

For his team to be competitive with the “big boys” of the confederation, the Jamaican tactician’s wish list includes International Friendlies, training camps, and increased staff, to name a few.

Nothing he is asking for can be considered unreasonable, especially when measured against international standards and best practices.

But, success in getting what he wants will critically hinge on whether or not the governing Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) will be able to provide it.

But almost sure enough, the proverbial shortage of funds will be the final adjudicator.

Still, Edwards will have no choice but to develop his programme and submit for assistance.

“We want the JFF to think of something in the shape of a residency, where we can have all the players together and have them schooled under the auspices of the federation and that would allow us to take care of other critical issues like nutrition, health care and physical conditioning,” said the Jamaica coach.

“Ideally, also, I would like to have an expanded staff to have input on a more detailed level and as a group, instead of just Omar (Edwards) and myself, because coaching 30 boys by myself, Omar and goalkeeper coach Clive Wedderburn is not easy. If we can get in two more coaches that would give us more of an input,” Edwards told the Jamaica Observer.

The coach, who recently guided his charges to third in the eight-nation Caribbean Football Union (CFU) finals in Trinidad and Tobago, yearns for a more robust medical programme.

“Certainly, the medical side of things has to be taken much more seriously. For example, Kaheem Parris, who is easily one of our better players, was not able to perform efficiently in the tournament, largely because of an injury sustained some four weeks ago and the attention to the injury was not as proactive as we would have liked.

“Yes, he did get some attention, but it could have been way better and that’s an area we will definitely have to improve on as a federation. I think if we are able to get those things right, we would be able to put up a fight and take one of the four spots available to CONCACAF,” Edwards said at the Cara Suites in St Margaret’s, Trinidad, recently.

For the CFU finals, the Under-17 Boyz had the benefit of a physical trainer and a massage therapist, crucial skill areas that were absent in the first round of qualifiers in the US Virgin Islands in July.

“Having the physical trainer and the massage therapist was very crucial in terms of the overall performance of the team, even though I lamented earlier that the physical conditioning is an area we have to take seriously.

“But that is not an indictment on the work of the physical trainer, but just a general observation of the level we need to get to and how we maintain those levels.

“As for the massage therapist, his service was very crucial in terms of recovery and getting the players ready from game to game and those training sessions between games,” said Edwards, a teacher by profession.

In a perfect world, the coach would have wanted at least one more massage therapist.

“Under ideal situations, we would have wanted one or two more with the volume of work he had to do, which was really a lot and is very tiring, but we don’t have those ideal circumstances yet, so we would like to commend him for the work that he has done,” Edwards noted.

The coach, who heads the technical team at Manchester High School, said key human resources should not only be avaialble consistently to the players only in competition, but preparation phases as well.

“It is very important that every time we train or play we have these kinds of human resources available to us,” Edwards said.

In the US Virgin Islands and Trinidad, the team did not have the benefit of a goalkeeper coach, an area of expertise in the technical portfolio that was sorely missed in Edwards’ opinion.

“Going forward, we definitely have to have a goalkeeper coach in Panama, and that is an area I thought we really missed and if you look at it, both Haiti and Cuba had goalkeeper coaches and these are the teams that finished ahead of us.

“Trinidad obviously as the host country also had their goalkeeper coach, and from all indications, Curacao and Suriname also had their goalkeeper coaches.

“The goalkeeper coach is a critical element in the overall picture in having a successful tournament and that is something we have to fix going forward,” Edwards argued.

International matches, too, are high on the agenda, and JFF General Secretary Raymond Grant confirmed yesterday that four high-profile matches against two opponents will be played in Kingston before the year ends.

The back room staff in Trinidad also consisted of Assistant Coach Omar Edwards (no relation to Andrew), Manager Howard Bell, head of delegation Dalton Wint, doctor Bersha Cole, Equipment Manager Lloyd Holm, massage therapist Jason Henry and physical trainer Lamar Morgan.