Milo U18 Schools’ Football tournament to begin this weekend

After an unforeseen delay, the 10th edition of the Milo Schools’ Football Tournament — with some 25 teams hailing from Regions 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 10 participating — will commence this Saturday, March 23rd, at the Ministry of Education (MoE) Ground on Carifesta Avenue, and at the Queen’s College Ground in Thomas Lands.
The Petra organization’s customary team briefing exercise was conducted on Tuesday afternoon at the National Library in Georgetown, and each team was presented with a quantity of balls.
Referencing the tournament’s delay, a ripple effect of the recent teachers’ strike, Petra Co-Director Troy Mendonca shared the scheduling changes that had to be made to accommodate the late start.

“Because of scheduling challenges, we would normally do one round every two weekends, but this time around, we’re being forced to complete a round per weekend. So, there will be schedules for the Ministry of Education Ground and the Queen’s College Ground on both Saturdays and Sundays,” he revealed.
“We normally don’t like to do football during the holidays, but we’re all aware of the pushback, and so there will be games scheduled during the school holidays, which is a challenging (situation, but) there’s not much we can do as it relates to that,” Mendonca explained.
The MoE’s Allied Arts Education Officer Joel Gonsalves was present at the exercise, and had encouraging words for the young ballers regarding the tournament’s potential. Referencing the Golden Jaguars’ current stint in Saudi Arabia, he shared, “You have the potential to do as they’re doing right now. So, do not take it lightly, and do not just see it as, ‘Okay, yes, there’s a tournament; and when the tournament ends, we come back to school, and back next year around this time’. It’s ongoing; it’s developing skills and developing capabilities, because you never know.
“I’m making a projection that, in another 2-3 years, we’ll be seeing some of you on our national team, and you’re going to remind us, ‘Remember when we had that Milo tournament, that is where it all started’,” Gonsalves added.
Schools slated to compete in this year’s Milo tournament are as follows: Region 1 – defending champions Santa Rosa Secondary, Waramuri Top Primary; Region 2 – Charity Secondary, Abram Zuil Secondary; Region 3 – Leonora Secondary, L’Aventure Secondary, Westminster Secondary; Region 4 – Hope Secondary, President’s College, Ann’s Grove Secondary (East Coast), Yarrowkabra Secondary (East Bank); Region 5 – Bush Lot Secondary; Region 6 – New Amsterdam Secondary; Region 7 – Bartica Secondary; Region 10 – Mackenzie High School; and Georgetown – Dolphin Secondary, Marian Academy, 2023 runners-up Chase’s Academic Foundation, Carmel Secondary, West Ruimveldt Secondary, Charlestown Secondary, East Ruimveldt Secondary, South Ruimveldt Secondary, Queen’s College, the Bishops’ High School, North Ruimveldt Multilateral, and School of the Nations.
The 25 teams in the Milo tournament will be vying for a $300,000 grand prize, which would be used for a school project of their choice. The second- third- and fourth-place finishers would be respectively rewarded with $200,000, $150,000 and $75,000 for the same purpose.
The tournament is tentatively set to conclude on April 29th.