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sporttoday
Malta's
best ever coach's passion for football
After
qualifying as a referee in 1971, he was awarded a scholarship in
1975 to Luther College in Iowa where he obtained an ABM in business
management and accounting. Three years later he successfully obtained
a full coaching badge after attending a coaching course by the Scottish
FA. He later coached Melita and, in 1991, was named National football
coach. RAY ABDILLA spoke to Pippo Psaila, now MOC Sports Director
Former National football coach Pippo Psaila has always been involved
in all kinds of sports, but football always comes first for him.
"It's a game that I love very much and it was one that gave
me great satisfaction especially at the international level,"
Pippo said.
It is not easy stating that Pippo was Malta's best ever coach, but
his results speaks for themselves - these give a clear indication
that no other local or foreign coach has done better.
Born on 2 January, 1957, he is known as one of the most organised
persons around. I've heard that statement before from many people
but being at his office and seeing with my own eyes made me realise
just why many rate him so highly.
His set-up is second to none and when coaching, whatever the sport,
he used to prepare and submit a clear definition of the game, the
players, the tactics and much more. Its no wonder the results were
always healthy.
Speaking about all this to him Pippo said, " Yes, I like to
be organised. When I was the National coach of the Malta football
team I used to be frank with the players. They even knew if they
were going to play at least a week before. I do not like the players
to have tension before a match."
Coming from a sporting background, Mr Pippo Psaila was and is never
happy with his achievements so far. Although he did well when coaching
Melita, the National football side and Neptunes waterpolo club -
he never stopped and always wanted to help the local sport.
Attending the St Edwards Boarding School College was also an immense
help to him in the sporting field. Every day he used to have sport
sessions whilst on Saturday and Sunday he would practise sports
for more than three hours.
He went to the United States to study and being a country that is
a hub for sports, Pippo continued to increase his sports knowledge.
He used to coach basketball, soccer, American football and athletics
in college and he learned a lot from his experiences there.
He became more interested in coaching when he was in Malta and Wolverhampton
Wanderers came over to play a friendly against Marsa. That was in
the 1972-73 season.
He was still young then and to further his knowledge on the game,
he also became a referee at the tender age of 15. At just 19 he
was also made coach of the amateur side Melita, who were languishing
in the third division at the time.
He then even made it into the Malta Football Association in 1983
as a coach and also coached basketball side Luxol and then Neptunes
between 1978 and 1982.
MOC's announcement that it was launching a new scheme for the preparation
of elite and aspirant elite athletes for this year's foreign participation
hit the headlines recently and Mr Psaila was literally behind all
this.
"Big countries are working that way, so why not us when we
are a very small country. Countries like England, Italy and Australia
do not throw away money in sports, but they concentrate more on
their major sports.
"The Italians do well in fencing and they invest heavily in
it because it means medals. They (the Italians) also know that not
many countries participate in the fencing scene so they have a better
chance of winning more medals for their country.
"The English do the same with rowing, the Australians with
swimming etc. So how can we pretend that we do not do the same when
we are such a small country?
It was certainly irresponsible that the local associations concerned,
who nominated 178 names as potential elite athletes. Not even Australia
feel that they have such a great number of elite athletes.
"Of course, one must admire the associations who do their utmost
to see their top athletes getting the best training if that is possible,
but one definitely cannot expect the MOC to cater for such a big
number when first of all there is obviously no such number of elite
athletes and also when there are no necessary funds available to
train such athletes in the 'elite' way," Mr Psaila said.
Pippo said that the MOC is gunning mostly for the Small Nations
Games and then perhaps the Commonwealth and the Mediterranean games.
"It is only by adopting such a professional attitude that we
might finally be able to make the grade, something that we have
been expecting and awaiting for a good number of years, he said.
Going back to the football world, Pippo said that it is a pity that
most of the clubs are in sorry financial state. He said that clubs
have to be healthier and after backing all the way the national
side for quite a good number of years, the time has come to start
and think about the clubs.
The Malta Olympic Committee Sports Director said that a transparent
set-up should be formed. He said that it is nice that we're building
a new stand and improving our facilities. But we must first see
if these will be viable in the near future if clubs are getting
nowhere.
He explained that a professional manager is needed to see what the
clubs are doing and how they are handling their own affairs. Then
the MFA can help by bringing over some first class foreign coaches
to help the clubs.
In countries like Turkey, they did this quite a number of years
ago and now they are reaping the rewards.
Pippoa has been praised by many. Win or lose, he never failed to
keep his continuous appointments with the players and committee,
discussing in the process the pros and cons of past, present and
future matches during the several players' meetings he called.
Another important factor in Pippo's style is reflected in his pre-match
and analysis reports for every game, where tactics, technique, fitness,
performance etc. were recounted in a very professional way - serving
the purpose for following the improvement, or otherwise, game by
game.
He was always ready to start every season to hand out a detailed
training programme for special matches ahead and all this certainly
kept the players fledged with all their training duties. An important
collection, however, in Pippo's many football treasures was his
own compilation of detailed personal data on our players, where
one could easily make references when necessary.
As the last few paragraphs suggest, Pippo had all the credentials
and this was said by many. At the beginning I asked him: Who is
Pippo Psaila?
Surprisingly, being a man who easily finds the right words to answer
with, he stalled and said, "I do not know exactly, strangely
enough others could know better than me. But I do know that I have
a wonderful family, an adoring wife and two kids."
Pippo's other credits are being promoted to Class 1 coach instructor
by the FA in 1983, coaching the Neptunes waterpolo club and winning
the league a year later and successfully attending a course at the
Scottish Football Association, where he obtained his B license.
He also attended UEFA courses in Lindabrun, Austria and Coverciano,
Italy. In 1986 he attended a FIFA Academy in Maglingen, Switzerland.
But to the Maltese public he is better known for the honourable
results he obtained for the national team. He was appointed Malta
coach in 1991. He immediately participated in the XIX President
Cup Tournament in South Korea finishing fifth out of eight countries.
A year later he won the Rothmans Tournament where strong sides such
as Norway and Iceland took part. In 1993 he resigned from his post
after having obtained the highest number of points with the national
team since its started competing in international UEFA/FIFA competitions
- scoring the highest number of goals and losing the least number
of games whilst at the same time winning the most games.
Photos
by Pippa Zammit Cutajar
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