After a two-year hiatus, primary school footballers will have the opportunity to display their skills when the Courts Under-11 Pee-Wee tournament reconvenes next Saturday.
Courts Director of Consumer Finance, Richard Allan
24 primary school boys’ football teams hailing from Georgetown, East Bank, East Coast and West Bank of Demerara will converge on the Ministry of Education (MoE) Ground on Saturday, October 8, for the kickoff of the Courts’ Pee Wee Under-11 Tournament.
This will be the tenth edition of the tournament, and St. Agnes Primary lifted the championship in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic interrupted proceedings in the following years. However, at Thursday afternoon’s launch at the company’s Main Street location, Courts’ Director of Consumer Finance, Richard Allan, explained why the company readily jumped on board the staging of this competition this year.
GFF TD (ag) Bryan Joseph
“You know, we really strive to contribute to the communities in which we serve, as Unicomer Group. So, with this background of being involved in the community, we are proud of being part of this programme today. Again, I just want to commend everyone for the work that you’re doing for the development of the young people. We know that the young people are the future, and we really want to support such programmes such as this, for that type of development,” Allan remarked.
He also noted that his involvement is deeply rooted in his father’s love for the sport.
Also sharing remarks at the tournament’s launch were Guyana Football Federation (GFF) acting Technical Director Bryan Joseph and Ministry of Education (MoE) representative Kurt Braithwaite, who touched on the development of the sport through the Petra-organised tournament.
MoE’s Kurt Braithwaite
“The best place that we can start football is at the grassroots level, and that’s what the Petra Organization would’ve been doing. Ministry of Education is on board with any project that will help with the development,” MoE’s Braithwaite remarked, “We have children from as far as Timehri, and teams also coming from (the) Coast, along with Region 3 and Georgetown. Hopefully, in time to come, we can have it extended to the other regions; but this is a good start.”
Joseph shared, “I have sentiments similar to Mr. Brathwaite’s that, after 9 years, I would love to see this become a national tournament, where it’s being done in all the regions. Because the Petra organization have organized and executed this tournament with such high quality over the years, even now, in most of our national teams, we’re seeing players who would’ve had the opportunity to play in the Petra tournament.”
Extending gratitude to Courts was Petra Co-Director Troy Mendonca. He also listed the prizes, which include trophies, medals and balls, and in the case of individual accolades, football shoes.
“In this case, it provides a platform for these young kids to be involved in at an early age, that can realise their inner ability and talent, that otherwise would not have been. It gives an opportunity to interact with kids from different backgrounds and help to develop leaders in their own rights,” Mendonca later stated about the impact of the Courts Pee Wee tournament.
In addition to the aforementioned prizes, Courts has committed to present each member of the winning team with tablets.
The tournament is tentatively set to conclude on November 19th.
