Champions St. Michael North West carry off bulk of awards

AFTER winning the title of the National Sports Council/Youth Development Programme Under-17 Football Tournament, St. Michael North West collected the bulk of the awards at the prize-giving ceremony on Sunday at the Christ Church Parish Church.

The two finalists walked away with the majority of the prizes on Sunday with the MVP Ranaldo Roberts also carrying home the Best Outstanding Goalkeeper award.

Adding to the trophy case of St. Michael North West, who qualified third for the playoffs and then went all the way to the title, were their captain Kavian Inniss, who also scored the winning goal in the final and their manager, Fabian Agard and coach, Robert Jones.

St. Michael East, who played undefeated until the final, picked up the Outstanding Midfielder award thanks to Demar Maloney, Outstanding Defender in Davier Grimes and their coach, Brian Neblett, was awarded as one of the outstanding coaches of the tournament.

The Most Disciplined team was St. Joseph and the Community Award went to Makayla Gittens.

Delivering the feature address was Minister of Sports, Stephen Lashley, who said that the tournament, which just completed its second year, was born when he realised there was a void in this particular age group.

“We needed to create an opportunity for the youngsters to develop their game and that gave birth to the competition.”

Having now filled that void, Lashley said that the next step is to also create a tournament for the females as they too have a contribution to the sport, and should not be expected to support and contribute from the sidelines.

Lashley said that the young footballers in this tournament have an excellent opportunity to move on to even higher places, and professionalize their art and the time one spends doing that at a young age is very critical to the type of senior player that one becomes.

“It requires a burning desire to succeed and you need to make some tremendous sacrifice if you are to ignite the changes to transform you into a true champion.

“The tournament provides that golden opportunity.” (CG)