In a grand ceremony at the Le Meridien Pegasus yesterday, the Guyana Sports Development Foundation (GSDF) along with Demerara Distillers Limited (DDL) and Scotiabank launched the fourth edition of the Scotiabank/Pepsi schools football academy.
According to president of the GSDF, John Yates, this year’s programme will commence on February 10 with the training of Physical Education teachers to be coaches.
The academy will also include a referees’ course (February 18) for students who can use the material for their Caribbean Secondary Examinations Certificate (CSEC) (CSEC) and the four-month league tournament for the 24 secondary schools which kicks off on March 8 leading to a championship playoff with the top teams from each region.
Yates said:“Our focus in 2014 is to strengthen our current programme before expanding to other areas in 2015.
“The GSDF’S focus will include: a partnership with the National Football Coaches’ Association, promoting a stronger relationship with institutions and PTA’s for their involvement; incentives to the top schools in support of projects in addition to equipment that is already provided to each school; identifying and rewarding all-round male and female students based on academics, skill and discipline and expanding the age range from 10 to 17 instead of 10 to 15 in order to have more females playing football.”
Marketing Manager of Scotiabank, Jennifer Cipriani said:“The Scotiabank/Pepsi Schools’ Football Academy is a trailblazer.
“Apart from including females in the academy, we were the first to include training, coaching and refereeing as part of the programme. Our vision was to contribute to the development of football in a meaningful way by focusing on training players, coaches and referees so they learnt the game correctly from their perspectives. We also felt that good attendance and academic performance were important, so we made this a part of the requirement for playing and have seen improvements in many of our players.”
Cipriani added:“I thank co-sponsor DDL and the GSDF for partnering with Scotiabank again and I look forward to another exciting year for the academy.
“To our players I say seize this opportunity to live your dream. But dream with your eyes wide open as you need to temper dreams with reality. Strike a balance between football and academics and you are on your way to success.”
Marketing Director of DDL, Sharda Veeren-Chand echoed similar sentiments saying:“We cannot underestimate the value of programmes like these. What we are doing here is developing the young talent on whom the future of football would depend. We cannot help but feel hopeful that these young talent would one day be the instrument of change that will make a difference in football in the years to come.”
Veeren-Chand continued:“We have a vision that
these very youngsters will one day ensure that we are able to cheer for a Guyana Team in the FIFA World Cup.
“I wish the organizing committee good luck with this year’s academy and I look forward to the usual high level of success.”
Notes: Minister of Sport, Dr. Frank Anthony, president of the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) and Chief Education Officer of the Ministry of Education also made brief remarks.
Organising Committee members of the GSDF, Victor Wright was yesterday’s Master of Ceremony while Brenda Harmon gave the vote of thanks. The 24 teams in the academy will come from Berbice, Linden and Georgetown.
GSDF’s Director, Colin Baker followed proceedings via Skype from the United States of America.
