Defending champs St Angela’s open defence on winning note

– Organisers urge parents to be more supportive

The 5th annual Pee-Wee Boys Under-11 Schools football Championship kicked-off on Saturday at the Banks DIH ground and defending champions St. Angela’s Primary had a successful start to their title defence as they defeated St. Ambrose Primary 4-0 on the opening day where 33 goals scored from 12 exciting matches.
The Thomas Street based school was led by a superb hat-trick by Seon Cato who netted in the 6th, 14th and 21st; Antonio McArthur was in support of Cato with a goal in the 26th.
Meanwhile, before kick-off, the colourful march past off all 24 participating occurred after which Co- Director of Petra Organisation Troy Mendonca made an appeal to supporters especially parents to be supportive to the players since it is not just about winning.
Mendonca posited that “What we have observed over the years is that parents, supporters, teachers and coaches place a lot of emphasis on winning; over time it is a lot pressure being put on the youngsters.”
He further lamented that “we want to ask this year is for us to say more positive things to these youngsters instead of being harsh on them, let’s say something positive; yelling at them may cause them not wanting to play anymore and may tamper with their confidence and we want to see special effort being placed in this area.”
The organizer ended by stating that “our aim is to create the environment for you the youngsters for those of you who decided you wanted to be a footballer in life; this is environment where you can get involved to harness the skills”.
Similarly, Head of Department of Physical Education, Unit of Allied Arts of the Ministry of Education Nicholas Fraser explained that the players need to feel a part of the proceedings and that the sole purpose alone cannot be that of winning since they are other aspects of children development that can be addressed.
“ Students feel apart and believe that they are getting better , it not just about, wining, it is about preparation, socialisation, stress reduction and the health benefits that the children will be receiving,” Fraser stated.
The competition will continue each Saturday until November 19 at the same venue with 24 teams battling for supremacy.

Summarized results of matches:
Round 1
In game one, Winfer Gardens beat Mae’s Primary 3-1 with Orlando Dickie(21st and 24thminutes) and Makhaya Munroe (12th) scoring for the winners. Mae’s lone scorer was Joshua Bendtick (28th)
While in game two, St.Pius won 4-0 over Smith’s Memorial. Deshale Humphrey (2nd), Tiquan Thompson (12th and 26th) and Tyrese Lyte (17th) were on target.
Game three saw West Ruimveldt trashing St. Margaret’s 3-0 with Kevin Mentus (27th), Tafrel McAllister (31st) and Tyrese Jeffrey (38th) finding the back of the net.
In Game four, Enterprise went down to J.E. Burnham by a 0-1 margin. With Dominick Leacock scoring the lone goal in the 12th minute.
A similar score line came up between Tucville and St. Gabrile’s in game five. Jermaine DeRouche scored for Tucville in the 8th minute.
Defending champions St. Angela’s whipped St. Ambrose 4-0. Seon Cato (6th, 14th and 21st) and Antonio McArthur (26th) totally mesmerized the St. Ambrose boys.
Game seven never got off as Schhol of the Nations failed to show up handing Marian Academy the victory via walkover.
In Game eight, North Georgetown scored four goals while Success Elementary failed to reply. For North Georgetown, Shaquan Wallers scored a helmet trick with conversions in the 5th, 22nd, 25th and 26th minutes.
Game nine saw a drubbing for Stella Maris over Rama Krishna. When the final whistle was blown it was Stella Maris 6 and Rama Krishna nil. Fedel Norville (6th, 27th and 28th), Jevon Pluck (7th and 21st) and Jaden Wharton in the 24th minutes that scripted the demolition.
Redeemer needled St. Agnes in game 10 with Miguel Alexander shooting home in the 29th minute.
Game 11 was another one-sided affair which ended 5-0 in favour of South Ruimveldt over Comenius Primary. Nashawn Bristol opened the scoring in the 4th followed by Saleem Rameshwar (8th and 17th) and Antonio Leitch in the 21st and 24th minutes to crown a good game.
The final game of the day was a stalemate between St. Stephen’s Primary and F.E. Pollard. After full time the score line read nil all.