By Iva Wharton
The Digicel schools football tournament kicks off tomorrow at the Georgetown Cricket Club (GCC) Ground, Bourda with Bygeval Secondary and Buxton Secondary clashing in the lone encounter from 15:30 hours.
Both schools said they are hoping to move beyond round one of the championship and eventually walk away with the trophy.
However, despite their hopes, the two teams have been affected by challenges which could ruin their chances of winning the championship.
Buxton Secondary School lacks the guidance and support of a fulltime coach although the team does not see this as a major problem for them.
Their captain, 16-year-old Dwight Mc Allister, who is also a member of the Georgetown Football Club (GFC) said that they are working hard to stay in the competition.
“We’re working on our weak areas and we have the confidence that we will win all our matches,” he told Stabroek Sport.
The weakness, Mc Allister said, was their inability to control the ball whilst passing.
According to the skipper while they train every day, not every player can make it to practice sessions as they have lessons to attend.
Once in a while the teen said, they benefit from coaching sessions from Sheron Abrams, who is also the Coach of Buxton Stars.
Mc Allister said that when Abrams is not available they train on their own.
Those self-training sessions, he said, are usually not difficult as most of the players are members of football clubs either on the East Coast of Demerara or in the city.
Asked what the competition means for the school,
Mc Allister said it would be great for the school if they should win the tournament and return with the trophy.
Manager of the team Tracey Braithwaite, who is also the Social Studies teacher, said that she has faith that her boys will do well.
She said, however, that there are some challenges namely the lack of a full-time coach and discipline.
She said that from looking at the practice sessions some of the players are very good, but others have a lot of work to do which she hopes will be done by the time they are ready to play Bygeval Secondary tomorrow.
The boys, she said, appropriately named themselves `The Challengers’.
“So now is the time for them to prove if they are up for the challenge,” she quipped.
Asked how a Social Studies teacher ended up as an interim football coach, Braithwaite said that she was approached by the head teacher.
Members of the team had also asked her if she could just register the team because they really wanted to be in the competition.
Over at Bygeval Secondary, Physical Education teacher Ray Daw said that his team’s major problem was the lack of a proper facility to train.
“With the weather we have had a setback in preparation so we are using the tarmac because the multi-purpose centre was being used for exams which finished today.”
The ground which is used for training, he said, is at the moment inundated with water.
“There was some work being done by the Region where they came in and did some cleaning of the ground and cut another drain so that the ground can drain properly. But because of the weather it is not drying fast enough,” he added.
Daw says this particular problem is a regular occurrence as the ground is flooded whenever it rains or the Mahaica Creeks swells.
He, however, said that with the completion of CSEC exams yesterday, he hopes that they will have full use of the multipurpose centre.
Training of team for the past month was being done on the tarmac with the boys engaging in regular matches at the Jonestown or Helena Grounds against either a Jonestown team or the Mahaica Determinators.
Bygeval Secondary are the defending champions of Region 4. They were knocked out of the competition last year by the Government Technical Institute who later went on to win the tournament.
Daw says that given the new age stipulation, he is confident that his team will do better. The new age stipulation requires a player to be 18 years and under, a one year age difference from last year. Bygeval will be entering the competition under the captaincy of Samuel Charles.
Meanwhile, coordinator of the tournament Lavern Fraser-Thomas said that everything was in place for a successful start tomorrow. She added that the only concern at the moment was whether the weather will hold for the game.
Unlike last year, teams will receive their bibs on game day which will prevent the organizers from having to replace bibs which were left in the possession of students who never turned up for the matches.
Minister Priya Manickchand is expected to deliver a motivational speech to the students while the ball will be kicked off by Sport Minister Dr. Frank Anthony.
