Successful year-end programme hosted by VMFA

Twenty-four youth football teams from all across Guyana gathered at the St Stanislaus Ground on Saturday last for what was the fourth edition of the Vurlon Mills Football Academy’s (VMFA) year-end festival.
Catering for players from ages four to 15 years old, the activity saw riveting competition amongst the youngsters, with Director of the VMFA and former Golden Jaguar Vurlon Mills deeming it a success.
“For us, this is what football should look like; this is what sport should look like, all over Guyana, all over the Caribbean, all over the world, where we can have over 300 young participants, boys and girls can come and exchange ideas, exchange skills and compete against each other in a fun, safe environment,” Mills told this publication exclusively.
He added, “We have coaches collaborating, sharing ideas, planning activities just like this for future and also where we can have all these partners being able to network. If we can have all these components in one space, in every sport environment across Guyana, sport would be in a good place.”
Discussing a few of the festival’s corporate partners, Mills spoke to the value of their support and the possibilities it can unlock for sport in Guyana.
Mills explained, “The idea behind this whole initiative is for partners to network. So, the approach to this festival is that we have a partner to sponsor each age group within the VMFA teams. Today, we have Kelloggs, who is fully branding one of the teams; Wendy’s; Banks through its Demico, Malta and Minute Maid; XL Engineering; BK and MVP Sports.”
“So, all these brands, even though we’re competing against each other, this is our opportunity to network, share ideas and to plan future events where we can collaborate even more.”
Reflecting the lack of competition at that stage, Mills underscored the importance of such events for budding players.
The VMFA Director expressed, “Due to the lack of local football, of domestic competitions in Guyana, these events really motivate us. This gives us more courage to see these kids come out, to see them play and to enjoy competing. We don’t do this whole year, we try to do three festivals each year, where we give these kids the opportunity to play. Hence the reason why we’re always planning international competitions where our participants would be able to have that experience of competing against other clubs and academies from across the region.”
“This is big for us, and if we can do this every month, of course with partnership, this is what we want to look forward to, through the Vurlon Mills Academy,” he further stated.