From his youth days at the Alexandra School, Albert Mapp was labeled one of the best youth products in Barbados and destined for years of national representation.
Mapp secured his destiny and played international football for 14 years; representing the island at the U16, U20, U23 and senior division.
The gifted left-footed midfielder first represented the island as a 13-year-old on the U16 boys’ team which traveled to St Lucia for an International Friendly.
Mapp then graduated to the national U18 programme at 16 years old and featured in the island’s top domestic league, where he played alongside the likes of Robin Parris and Hendy Williams.
After some stellar and consistent displays in Division One and being in the right place at the right time, Mapp progressed to the U23 team, which was coached by former senior team captain Ricardo “Cracker” Goddard, who personally invited Mapp to train with the squad after seeing him play during a scrimmage at the University of the West Indies (UWI) one Sunday morning.
At age 24 Mapp was selected for the senior national team’s assignment in the Windward Islands Games under the guidance of Eyre Sealy, who trusted a high-flying and confident attacker with responsibility for their left side attacks against Dominica.
An impressive display on that tour would see Mapp make a string of consistent performances for the national team for a number of years, earning valuable experiences; good and bad.
“My best moment in the national team came in the 2001 Copa Caribe Tournament, which was held in Trinidad. We had qualified as the best second place in our group in Suriname. We played a 3-5-2 and we started to understand the system each game. We started to play with our true potential. We didn’t win any games but we improved on our game knowledge,” Mapp said.
Mapp recalled his worst moment of his international career came on the aforementioned Suriname tour, when they were mistaken for “scrimmagers” on the field and ordered off the field so that the Jamaica team could conduct their training session.
With the anguish of the events still deep down inside Mapp, he said the unfortunate occasion occurred because of a lack of uniformity of the players, stating; everyone wore something different. However, he said the officials were smartly decked out and looked the part.
With four years of international exposure and two years of top flight experience under his belt, Mapp was sought after by a number of clubs, but at 17 years’ old he decided to join 1990 league champions Brittons FC, where he would’ve stayed for four years before moving onto the Barbados Defense Force Sports Programme (BDFSP).
Mapp would move onto represent a number of clubs in the top division but he labeled his time at perennial league kings Claytons Kola Tonic Notre Dame as his best period in domestic football. He won the league and knockout competition in 2001 and captured the Best Midfielder award for both competitions.
After Notre Dame, Mapp said he decided it was time to give back to his hometown community in Grazzettes, where he coached their Division Three team to promotion in their first year and scored 40 goals that season.
Mapp discovered an interest in teaching the game and was later appointed coach of the Barbados Youth Service (BYS) Division Three team, where he helped them to climb all the way to the Division One league, while scoring 40 plus goals in their promotion season.
The transition from playing to coaching has been a smooth one for the current Technical Director of Technique FC and he said he has recognized a number of positive and negative changes since his retirement.
“You don’t have the crowd support like before and the level of play isn’t what we expect it to be. But on a positive note; we have more game knowledge, there are quality facilities that we can play, the national players have training kit and there is more information for the coaches and players than in my time. Therefore, the football should be better but I guess for various reasons it’s not. I believe it goes back to the environment that some of the players are in and their diets”.
Now a holder of a Concacaf B License and the experience of being the assistant coach of the 2012 national U17 Boys team, along with coaching assignments in North America, Mapp said he has used his playing experience and coaching education to best understand and relate to players in his club and community.
“I have learnt a lot and it has changed me too.
When you’re coaching players who aren’t at that level, you have to be more patient with them and that’s what I’ve learnt from the courses.
One time I was a bit more aggressive and frustrated but now I ask more questions and check for understanding”, Mapp explained.
A community activist, coach, member of the National Security Service, but most of all, a proud Bajan, is how Mapp described himself and one who has used gift to reach out and help others; particularly the youth.
As we move into the year 2021 Mapp said he wishes for harmonious development within the football fraternity, so that a clear identity be established for the short and long term future of the sport.
“I would like to see us develop our own philosophy for football and the way our players at the national and club level play. In the long term I would like to see the players start taking stock of themselves and their health, particularly their diet. I think it would improve the standard of the game; eating the right foods, get adequate rest and I believe that will help.”
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