Roger Prince is the technical advisor to the Queens Royal College football team. His level of involvement with QRC football go as far back as his “glory days” as a player, and then coach of the QRC Senior Team during the period 1997-2000. During his stint as coach, QRC won the Big 7 in 1997, and were runners up in 1998, so success is no stranger to Mr. Prince, who now resides in England where he coaches 16-19 year olds. 
The standard of schools football has been a topic of conversation in the football fraternity since the controversial comments of National Youth Coach Anton Corneal. When questioned about the league’s standard, Roger Prince believes that a lot more could be done in order to raise the level of the SSFL. “In my opinion, better structures were in place when I was a player. The team had qualified coaches, trainers, physiotherapists and nutritionists.” Mr. Prince shakes his head disapprovingly then takes a deep breath, “Imagine less than 50% of Secondary School coaches actually have the required qualifications necessary to coach a team at this level.”
He indicated that the standard of the SSFL is on the decline, citing rapid strides with indoor entertainment, such as the internet, video games and cable television as one of the contributing factors. “Outdoor activities and sports are slowly decreasing in popularity amongst the youth.”
Now comes the issue of the evolution of today’s game. “The game of football has also considerably advanced over the last 10-15 years and the Caribbean on the whole has not kept up with these advances. A lot of emphasis is now placed on proper nutrition and recuperation techniques.” Mr. Prince highlights instances where teams arrive at games without adequate water supplies for their players, much less sport drinks and other energy foods that can fulfill the nutritional requirements of today’s athletes. Teams still arrive at games without first aid kits and without a qualified team physiotherapist. This often results in players continuing to play with serious injuries which could jeopardize their future careers. Mr. Prince also laments the deplorable condition of some of the schools football pitches, which is another cause of player injuries.
New training techniques designed to improve player’s strength, endurance and technical ability are quite common across Europe these days, but he’s seen very few of them properly implemented in the region. Training techniques being used today are still remarkably similar to those used in the 1970s.
Mr Prince did have the following suggestions to take the game further in Trinidad and Tobago and the region. Ideally the current budget should be expanded to include proper security, transport and pitch maintenance for teams. Teams should also have qualified coaches, physiotherapists and nutritionists as part of their technical staff. He stressed on the importance of schools and parents of players to keep communicating with each other. The role of the parent is extremely crucial to ensure that players’ diets and rest needs are maintained, in order for players to continue to perform optimally.
When asked if he would ever return to coaching a secondary school team, he responded by stating he would love to be involved in some capacity, but with what he’s learnt while in Europe and with his current qualifications and experience, he feels he could be of more value to the country as a whole if working at a league level, rather than just at a team level. He would like to see the entire level of football raised and would like to share his knowledge at a level where it could be utilized by much more young players, schools and parents rather than just with one team.