Inclusivity of young players next step for Football team – Manager Orande Chase

By Omar McKenzie

The year 2024 is done and dusted for Chase’s Academic Foundation with their becoming the first school to cop all the secondary school boys’ titles, from under-14 to under-18.
They emerged champions of the U18 Milo Schools Football tourney in April, and followed that up by winning the U14 ExxonMobil Boys Football tourney in July. In December, they bagged the U18 Republic Bank Schools Football League, and closed off the season by winning the KFC Goodwill International Schoolboys Tournaments, the U14 team being led by Mark Glasgow and the U18 team by Bryan Wharton.

There is precious little space in the spectacular trophy case of this Parade Street, Kingston Georgetown institution; and Team Manager Orande Chase has said he is hoping to replicate the 2024 successes in 2025.
In an exclusive interview with Guyana Times Sport, Team Manager Orande Chase divulged that, with the rich history of winning already within the school, the next step for the team would be the inclusivity of young players.
“Well, considering that the school ‘chases’, we have a history of dominating school football spanning over I believe 10 years now: when I was still in school to now. Considering all of that, the feeling of winning, the fact of winning, is nothing new… the only step forward that we needed to take was to win everything in the academic year, and that’s what we did.

So, the next step for us now, what we’re looking at, is to continue that run and to involve younger players and bring in the next generation. We would say the next group of young footballers at the school,” he confidently affirmed.
“So, in the previous competitions, what we did, we implemented. We used some emerging players we would consider…as players who would have been in the under-14 system, and after the Exxon tournament, implement them into the team bit by bit,” he explained.
“We used, in the past tournament, the last tournament, two of our players who will be playing under-14 football this year; and we know for sure that they will play a key part in securing that under-14 title coming. And after that tournament, we will see probably four to five other players from that team transitioning…into the more senior team,” he detailed.
The only trophy yet to find a home in that bulging, overcrowded trophy cabinet is the U14 Girls ExxonMobil football trophy, and when quizzed, Orande Chase indicated that, in the future, they intend to participate with interest in the team being among the hurdles for the girls.
Chase said, “So, with girls being the only title that we, the only competition we are not participating in, we do intend soon to have the girls to participate. But that is a hurdle that we, that has a lot of hurdles that we have to cross. We first have to have the girls interested in the sport and want to play the sport before we can even have a team. So, that’s the challenge there.”
Expounding on their participation in other sports, Chase said, “There’s basketball. We participated in the last tournament. Other than that, there are not many other schools. So, we’re waiting for cricket, school cricket, to take place, so we can then again jump into the cricket arena.
“We are aspiring to see more table tennis and swimming competitions; but with the track and field upcoming, we do have some students that we will be sending up for the track and field inter-zone and inter-schools (competitions). So, we are taking part; we just need to have more competition in those arenas.”
Chase’s Academic Foundation intend to ignite 2025 as they prepare to defend their titles in the 11th Milo U18 Schools Football tournament.