By Treiston Joseph
The week-long celebrations marking the 40th anniversary of Pele Football Club hosted by the Pele Alumni past greats continued yesterday at the Georgetown Football Club (GFC) Ground with a coaches seminar/tutorial along with a mini-camp for kids 12 years old and under.
The event began from 08:00hrs with a three-hour session for coaches who were invited from different clubs while the kids session comprised approximately 60 children and lasted for six hours with four kids from each club across the country, including 12 girls.
While the sessions were held to help develop the knowledge of coaches and the skills of the youth, all the greats agreed on the fact that education is a major factor in developing oneself as an athlete.
“We were trying to get as much people involved so they can get the technique needed to develop their players.
“We made it very clear that communication and discipline are the key factors to success along with skill. The focus for the kids is basically the same as the coaches but with intentions to identify weaknesses and strengths,” Eric ‘Riggy’ Smith, mini-camp instructor told Stabroek Sport yesterday.
Coach Instructor, Ivor ‘Brazilian’ Jones weighed in on the programme as well. “Basically what I did was devise a template or road map for coaches to coach from grass root level to a high level.
“This is not about Pele, it’s about the future of football in the country and I would hope that it would germinate beyond Pele’s boundaries,” Jones added.
Coach of the Pele Club, Gordon Brathwaite, aka ‘Ultimate Warrior’ was pleased that the youths would be benefiting from such programmes.
“I’m pleased with these programmes and that the former past players could come and give back to the club and the youths. I hope that the youths could take pattern from them and stay in school and do good to get a scholarship since football is mainly a ghetto sport in Guyana.
“Academics is the only way and football is a means to an end,” Brathwaite stressed.
Meanwhile, the week of celebrations will continue today with a Pele vs. Alpha grudge match at the GFC Ground from 19:00hrs. Alpha defeated Pele in the Kashiff and Shangai final and Pele returned the favour with a third place win in the recently-concluded Mayor’s Cup.
“We will take this game as a warm-up for the CFU Cup next month and will look to impose our will on Pele.
“We will approach this game with a level of seriousness as we look to see how our players react to the things in training and with that we also look for the results,” Wayne “wiggy” Dover told Stabroek Sport via telephone.
The game is set to be a thrilling play off as most of the greats hope to see Pele return to its dominant state of old.
The kids also received back packs and school supplies in order to help with the academic aspect of the programme.
