After a series of play-offs over the weekend across the country, the stage is now set for the commencement of the 11th edition of the Milo Schools’ Under-18 Football tournament, which is billed to kick off this Saturday, March 15 in Georgetown.
As time winds down to D-Day, tournament coordinators Petra Organisation seized the opportunity to host its customary team briefing and ball distribution exercise at the National Racquet Center, Woolford Avenue on Wednesday.
There, Petra Co-Director Troy Mendonca gave an update on the participating teams after the weekend’s play-offs and shared expectations for this year’s competition.
Petra Co-Director Troy Mendonca
Mendonca divulged, “From Region One, we expect to have Santa Rosa and Waramuri; Region Two – Abram Zuil; Region Three – Vreed-en-Hoop, Westminster and West Demerara; Region Four, East Coast – Hope Secondary, President’s College, Ann’s Grove; Region Four East Bank – Yarrowkabra Secondary; Region Five and Six yet to be decided; Bartica and Three Mile from Region Seven; Region Nine still to confirm also and from Georgetown, Dolphin, Chase, Charlestown, Carmel, West Ruimveldt, South Ruimveldt, Tutorial High, St John’s College, New Central High, and we have two teams on standby.”
“We expect a very competitive tournament. I think these teams have built up over the past couple years. A lot of them anticipate this tournament, so I want to assure the public, come Saturday and the seven weekends after then, we will have a very competitive programme,” the Petra Co-Director said.
Citing the ongoing National Schools’ Athletics championships and the Education Ministry’s five-priority programme, the Unit of Allied Arts’ Joel Gonsalves encouraged the young footballers to use the Milo tournament as a springboard for their international careers.
Allied Arts’ Joel Gonsalves
“That platform is creating several opportunities for our youngsters, such as being a part of CARIFTA Games and other international meets, you can do likewise. And that is why also, our Honourable Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand would’ve introduced a programme called the Five-priority, where students are exposed to a TVET subject, a foreign language and a level of volunteerism and of course, sport which you are a part of today,” Gonsalves advised.
He went on to urge the young ballers, “so, we know how vital this is for you and not only for you, all of us and, by extension, our country ‘cause the country needs young people to develop and need young footballers. We need you to not only to develop the skill, but to represent as you’re doing now in your school and beyond.”
Continuing the theme of encouragement, Assistant Director of Sport, Franklin Wilson implored the students to take a page out of Omari Glasgow’s book: the footballer had progressed from the Milo tournament to the US Major League Soccer (MLS) circuit.
From left: Petra’s Troy Peters, Assistant Director of Sport, Franklin Wilson; Petra’s Troy Mendonca; Allied Arts’ Joel Gonsalves and Petra’s Nareeza Latif-Boston are surrounded by players who will feature in the upcoming tournament
Wilson shared, “Obviously, there are so many other distractions – drugs, alcohol – but these things might last for a moment. If you focus on this and be disciplined, you can reach far. As Troy mentioned, look at Omari Glasgow, he’s playing with Chicago Fire and doing pretty well; he’s the first Guyanese playing in the senior team and he’s the second Guyanese to play Major League Soccer.”
The Milo tournament will kick off this Saturday, March 15 at the Ministry of Education and Queen’s College grounds with games scheduled for both venues every Saturday and Sunday.
The teams are competing for a $300,000 grand prize while second to fourth place will receive $200,000, $100,000 and $75,000 respectively, for a school project of their choice.
