Local Coach Impressed with Showing at Exchange Cup

Not deterred by the persistent rainfalls over the past week, the Vurlon Mills Football Academy’s (VMFA) inaugural Exchange Cup 2026 came off without a hitch.
As nine youth clubs from Guyana, Antigua and Barbuda, St Lucia, and Trinidad and Tobago took to the pitch at the Guyana Football Federation’s (GFF) National Training Centre (NTC), the youngsters brought their “A” game to the competition.
Discussing the lead up to the event, VMFA Coach Yonnick Norton candidly shared how eager the players were to compete.
“A lot of them have been very anxious for the competition; some of them probably haven’t been sleeping and couldn’t wait for this day. So, aside from being here today, it was a lot of training hard because they were aware of the tournament for quite some time. So, they were putting in a lot of work, so it was just about execution,” the coach shared with this publication.
Norton further stated, “Obviously, the nerves and stuff were still there, but I think after a while it got out, and they got to express themselves really well.”

As such, when the budding footballers took the pitch, Norton was nothing but impressed by the performances he witnessed.
The VMFA coach expressed, “Very, very impressed. A lot of talented youths coming from all over the Caribbean, as you mentioned. I think it’s just great to see all these individual talents coming together and working together as a team, even the support they’re having from the parents, the coaches and stuff like that.”
The former youth player turned coach went on to reiterate the aim of the Exchange Cup, emphasising its value.
Norton opined, “It’s very valuable. Given the fact that sports are competing in general, aside from their training that they’re doing together, they would want, and we as coaches want them to be able to express themselves against different talents that might be either on the same level as them or a bit higher than the level they’re at currently. That would help them see where they’re at and how they can improve.”
“Also, given that they’re playing teams from outside of the country and it’s an international tournament, it gives them that international exposure that a lot of players would wish to have,” he went on to add.
With the first day rained out, the Exchange Cup ran from Monday, March 30, to Wednesday, April 1.