A former Milo Schools Football champion and current Golden Jaguars player Ralph Parris who is currently at home recuperating from a knee injury has taken up a new role on the local football scene; coaching a relatively young Business School side in the sixth edition of the Petra Organised Milo Schools Football tournament.
Playing in their first game of the tournament on Saturday at the Ministry of Education ground against the Buxton Youth Development side, the youngsters from Business School took an early 2-1 lead in the first half and looked to be definite winners. However, football is an unpredictable and wildly beautiful game and the Buxton team pulled themselves together in the second half and looked a truly dangerous opponent; the equalized and then took a 3-2 lead which they maintained to come out as winners.
Former Milo champion and current Golden Jaguar Ralph Parris has taken up responsibility as the coach of the Business School team
Speaking to Guyana Times Sport in his new capacity as coach, Parris who was a winner of the same tournament with Chase Academic Foundation, noted “it’s all about giving back to the youngsters. As a former youth player and a winner of this tournament, I will try my best to pass on whatever knowledge I have gained during my days as a youth player.”
“Here is where I emerged as a player and I’m here to work with these youngsters, I’m trying to help them just as I was helped by others in the past.”
Despite starting out in the tournament with a loss; Parris revealed that he had a lot of positives to take away from the game noting that his charges took an early lead and played well in the first half; however he also acknowledged that the team’s concentration waned in the second half and they fell away from his initial game plan and tactics.
This is something he said that he would be working on as prior to the opening game he only had two training sessions with the team.
“I’ll definitely be working in the next couple of weeks before our next game with the guys; there are a few areas that we need to work on. In the coming games we will be coming out to play harder and better football.”
The tournament which has seen Chase’s Academy Foundation winning the title for three consecutive years has this year once again partnered with the Ministry of Public Health. The key component of the partnership will see the promotion of the issue of gender-based violence in an effort to raise public awareness.
