MAY PEN, Clarendon – Jackie Walters’ phone has not stopped ringing since the night of Saturday, December 1.

Some of the calls are congratulatory, hailing him on his latest daCosta Cup success with Glenmuir High. Others are from ambitious principals and sports administrators trying to pry him away from the Clarendon school.

But, from the look of things, it will take an almighty pull to get this veteran football coach to leave Glenmuir; he has unfinished business there.

“If you notice, I have won three (major titles) at every school that I have gone to, so I would love to break that jinx at Glenmuir,” the 64-year-old Walters told the Jamaica Observer Central in a recent interview.

“We have been working with this current crop of youngsters for a while now and they have been showing a lot of promise, not only in football but also in academics.

“There are also a couple of youngsters in the school who see me as their father. Whatever problems they have, I am the one they come to, so for at least the next two years – which will probably be time for me to retire from football – I will be here.”

In two years’ time, Walters will mark a 36-year, trophy-laden career in schoolboy football. “Since I have been coaching, I basically win a title in every decade,” he said.

In his first major coaching stint, Walters won three Manning Cup titles (1978, ’79, ’82), two Walker Cup titles and one Olivier Shield with Camperdown High. He also had major success at Clarendon College (three daCosta Cup titles, including a Triple Crown, in the 1990s), but this latest triumph at Glenmuir means a lot to him; it showcased his ability to build a team from the ground up.

He won’t say it explicitly, but by talking to him you get the feeling that this Glenmuir team overachieved this season. It was supposed to be a re-building year for the school, so few expected them to be crowned daCosta Cup champions. Not recruiting any player for the past two years did not help their cause, either.

“A lot of people did not believe that we had what it takes to win the title,” he noted. “Even the community deserted us, so it was quite a challenge.

“It was a challenge in the sense that a lot of people close to the school, historically, felt that unless you bring players into the system, you cannot succeed. However, one of my ambitions as a coach is not only to win titles, but also to have youngsters who perform at a high level in terms of academics.

“At the moment, quite a number of the players are in sixth form, so it presented a challenge because right away even people around you never have any confidence in the team simply because we did not recruit. That was the motivating factor for us,” he added.

While many deserted them however, Walters said principal Monacia Williams remained in their corner all season long.

“The headmistress, contrary to what a lot of people believed, gave us a lot of support,” he revealed. “The support that she gave us was phenomenal.

“She presented herself to the youngsters as a mother,” said Walters. “She is a person who is very firm, but at the same time she is able to reach out to students. She makes you understand that you came here as a student to develop as a person, so not because you are an athlete you are going to flaunt.”

With that type of support, Walters is now hoping to build on his legacy at Glenmuir, where he has won eight trophies (Three daCosta Cup, Two Olivier Shield and three Ben Francis Cup titles) in 10 years.

“Once you can create that type of environment, the players are going to be focused because some of them don’t necessarily want to be footballers,” Walters said. “They want to go to college and become doctors and so on, so it is therefore now a pursuit of developing a team that not only produces good football players but also sound academic minds,” he added.

“That is why I must say thanks to (Neville) ‘Bertis’ and St George’s College because the two games that we played against them have really provided an experience for our players. It is only a pity that those types of games cannot be played more regularly in schoolboy football,” said Walters.

Glenmuir lost 5-2 to St George’s on aggregate over two legs in the battle for the all-island Olivier Shield.

“While we do not pursue recruiting on the scale that they (George’s) do, which I personally have no objection to, it provides a challenge for me to really work on the resources we have here and try to get the football to another level,” said Walters.

Pursuing football as a career is the next level to which Walters referred. He believes with physical education becoming a part of the school curriculum, football – and the sports industry in general – should now be treated as a creditable career path.

“Football should no longer be seen as an extra-curricular activity, but a part of the school curriculum because it is now a career,” said Walters, who has travelled to England, Germany, The Netherlands and Brazil for football courses.

“All of those travels confirmed that Jamaica possesses the necessary talent to produce top players, but talent is not enough,” he reasoned.

“We have to create an environment to harness that talent and I think the school system is where we should be doing that. Football must be given a chance to develop in schools because it is not going to work at the club level. The youngsters spend most of their time in school and our clubs are not yet at a professional level.

“Physical education is now a part of the CSEC (Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate) curriculum and within another couple years it will be a part of CAPE (Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination), so what do we hope to achieve out of that? Sports personalities… athletes, coaches, sports medicine practitioners, physiotherapists and so on. Right now, Jamaica is lacking where sports psychology is concerned, so I feel it is the way to go,” he said.