Owing to the inclement weather experienced over the past few weeks, the kick-off of the ExxonMobil Boys and Girls Under-14 tournament will be pushed back by one week.
The Under-14 players stop for a photo op after receiving their practice balls
In spite of this, the second year of the competition is expected to be bigger and better.
With the initial kick-off date being June 8, the start of the tournament had to be pushed back as ground work is still ongoing after weeks of heavy rains. However, when the action does begin on June 15, 24 boys’ teams and 12 girls’ teams will compete for top honours.
Speaking on giving schools equal opportunity to be part of such activities, Petra’s Mark Alleyne shared that the boundaries of the tournament have been expanded.
“Well, one thing that we would have decided to do was include teams from other parts of the country. So, we’re not restricted to just the usual teams; we would have included teams from other districts and other parts of the country,” he disclosed.
This is the second year that the ExxonMobil Under-14 tournament will be hosted and it promises heightened action and skills from the youth players.
Highlighting the fact that the tournament bridges a gap between the Under-11 and Under-18 competitions, Alleyne disclosed that this age group sparked the interest of many.
Petra’s Mark Alleyne
“Well, schools are excited because as you know, after the Courts tournament there isn’t anything to fill that gap until you get to the Under-18 tournament. So with this one, we would have been getting a whole lot of schools wanting to participate in the tournament,” he stated.
As expected, the Under-14 category has created a platform for students to showcase their skills, and for scouting. On this note, Alleyne shared that the organisers were happy that the players have been able to go on to do great things.
“We are happy that we’re seeing from the Pee Wee tournament we would have had a couple of our youngsters going on to play in the national team. So, we know that at Petra we are helping to push football to where it’s supposed to be,” Alleyne said.
In addition to the team briefing exercise that was conducted, the respective teams were each presented with brand new footballs for the purpose of practising for their upcoming engagements.
In the inaugural tournament in 2018, Chase’s Academy were the male winners while Charlestown Secondary took home the female championship. As the first prize, the winning schools would have the opportunity to choose a school project that they would like to see completed.
