Christianburg Wismar Secondary ready to defend title

6th Annual Digicel’s National School Championship…

By Akeem Greene

Christianburg Wismar Secondary School are ready to defend their title in the Digicel’s National Schools Football Championships when the tournament kicks-off on June 10.
Coach of the team Delon Peters in an interview with Guyana Times Sport explained that preparations are currently ongoing but the inclement weather has had an effect on training but they have found ways of making sure they get the work done.
“The inclement weather has had an effect, in crippling us in terms of training but we had a tournament recently and we used that as stepping stone and basically for practice,” the coach said.
He added, “However or whenever we can, we do some training in the school’s auditorium and even sometimes in the rain because these are conditions you play under.”
There has some speculation that some teams that are based in the interior locations find it difficult to play under lights but the Coach

dispelled that notion, stating his team is quite comfortable.
“I don’t see it as a difficulty, we have grown accustomed to playing under lights for some time now, we have a lighted facility at the MSC [Mackenzie Sports Club] ground in Linden plus we have had several other opportunities playing under lights” Peters told this publication.
The Linden side are set to face a tough challenge from the Georgetown based Chase Academy who recently defeated them 2-1 in match at the National Stadium but the Peters is looking at the defeat as more of a lesson than a setback.
“In any defeat, I don’t see it as a setback, I don’t see it as a negative because it gives you a chance to see where you went wrong; we only deal in the positives,” Peters said.
Peters was quizzed on how he as a coach is able to create a balance training schedule and at the same time, allow the students to fully attend classes.
He responded saying, “we know education is important, that is why we give them the time-off to; we usually do our training in the afternoons, so if you have an exam we give that leeway, we don’t put them under any pressure; it’s just football but education is way beyond football.”
The tournament which is catered for numerous young talents throughout the country is seen as vital for development in Guyana and Coach Peters is in total agreement.
“This kind of football has given exposure to whole lot of hidden talent; who knew about Waramadong before Digicel, who knew about Annai, it has given selectors for junior football teams headache as well as senior teams because in a couple of years these are the guys that will honour us in the National team,” Peters posited.
The school from Linden has won the championship four of the five times thus far and are looking to make it five when the sixth edition gets underway.
The finals for the this year is slated for July 31 at the Guyana National Stadium at Providence and the championship school will collect $1 million to fund a project of its choice.
The second to fourth place finishers will receive $700,000., $400,000. and $350,000. respectively, which will also go to a project of their choice.
The regional champions are guaranteed $100,000 each.([email protected])