As Charlton’s U21s returned from their pre-season tour to Mount Pleasant Football Academy in Jamaica, staff and players from both sides reflected on a hugely successful trip.
“It was brilliant,” said Lead Coach Chris Lock. “There were so many positives on the trip - I don’t think it could have gone any better!
“In all honesty, we didn’t really know [exactly what we might get out of it]. In terms of the football side of things, we were just hoping that we’d have some hot weather training, which is something that the boys haven’t been accustomed to - and when we’re saying hot, we mean hot!
“It was also about travelling and time differences and having the understanding of what it can be like when you’re a travelling side and having to get used to jet lag and things like that - that’s all development stuff for young players that some point in their careers they might have to deal with. So a lot of off-the-field development.”
For many of the players, the tour was an experience unlike any other they have had. “Potentially the biggest thing was the cultural experience that the boys got from it,” said Lock.
“Simple things like when we went to the Bob Marley Mausoleum - when I laid out what the week was going to look like and I said we were going to go to Bob Marley’s house, one of the players’ words to me were, ‘will Bob Marley be there and am I going to meet him?’
"So it was a kind of thing of that generation not understanding but now actually going through and learning and becoming a part of the culture and what it was. It was brilliant for them.
“We went to the Rose Hall Great House, which used to be a slave plantation, and we learned about the times of slavery and what it was like on the island. Again, for a lot of the players it was really valuable off the field as well on the field. Those types of memories and information that they were receiving was and will be priceless, and something that they’ll remember whether they go on to have long and sustained football careers or whether they don’t. That is going to be something that they hold in their hearts as they move forward.”
Speaking on the final day of the tour, defender Ethan Cann agreed with Lock. “Getting used to the culture and the conditions in the last couple of days has been a really big thing for us as a club,” he said.
“From my experience of being at the club, we’ve never had anything like this, to come to a country outside of Europe. It’s been a really good week for us - I’m not looking forward to going home.”
The trip comes as part of Charlton’s partnership with Mount Pleasant, who were Jamaica Premier League champions in 2022/23.
Lock spoke of the benefits of the collaboration: “For some of the young Mount Pleasant players, it gives them an opportunity to come over to the UK to train with our U21 or U18s depending on what kind of age group they are. It gives a potential pathway out of the Caribbean for their elite young players. If you think along the lines of what Right To Dream have done through Africa, and America and Scandinavia as well - what Mount Pleasant are trying to do is very similar but with the Caribbean islands.
“As for us at Charlton Athletic, what it’s allowing us to do is try and be a part of that partnership from the get-go, and hopefully they can benefit from our expertise, and we can benefit in kind from the type of player that can come out of the Caribbean.”
Rickey Miller, Strength and Conditioning Coach at Mount Pleasant, agreed: "Hosting Charlton here is a dream come true. These are some of the partnerships that we really want. To see such a magnitude of a team in England, who used to be in the Premier League.
“Their professionalism and all of the stuff that they brought here, it’s a learning process for me also. The way these guys carry themselves, or how they do their daily routine, it’s a good look for the academy and these are some of the things that we provide for these young, aspiring students that we have here, and also for the senior team. So it’s a win-win right across the board.”
Lock was keen to stress how well his side had been looked after during the week.
“It was outstanding,” he explained. “From the moment we got there, anything that we needed, anything that as an organisation or club we would have liked if we were in the UK, they were able to provide in the Caribbean. Whether it was food, travel or even security - every part of our needs was catered for. They were so accommodating, it was unbelievable.”
The young Addicks faced off against their hosts on the pitch twice - once at the beginning of the trip, and once at the end. “The boys did well,” said Lock. “The first game was a tough game - we had travelled for 24 hours two days before.
“It was a tough travel, then we trained on Sunday, played on the Monday. For the players, it was obvious that they’d worked so hard but they got to around the 60th minute and physically they were at that point where they couldn’t carry on. They fell off a cliff a little bit but they were getting stretched, they were getting pushed.
“The result in the first game was a 2-0 loss, but footballing-wise the boys managed the ball really well for the amount of time that they were able to give as much as they could give. Overall it was a competitive fixture - it was a challenge on both sides. So it was a pleasant surprise in the sense that the quality of Mount Pleasant was really good, which gave our boys a really tough test.”
“Second game we drew 2-2. We pretty much dominated the ball, played very well, and again it was another really competitive fixture, which is want we want in pre-season - something that’s a challenge.
“We don’t want to play against teams where you potentially know what the outcome might be before you go into the game. We want the boys to be stretched, we want them to challenged in a way that means once they come into the season and they’re playing against other U21s sides, for them it’s maybe a little bit less of challenge compared to what they’ve been accustomed to going through pre-season, so they should be ready for the season ahead at that point.”
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