St Joseph boys and the GCC Bingo Spartans girls shine at Paragon Indoor
GCC Bingo Spartans U-16 Champs
GCC Bingo Spartans U-16 Champs

AS a result of the successful junior hockey programme and competitions staged over the past two years by the Guyana Hockey Board (GHB), Guyana was soundly represented at the Paragon Hockey Club’s 4th Youth Indoor Tournament in Trinidad & Tobago over the weekend of September 14-16. 

The St Joseph boys and the GCC Bingo Spartans girls, despite being on their first overseas tour, surprised all by taking gold for Guyana in the two Under-16 gender categories.

The St Joseph boys stormed through the pool rounds of their competition, beating all opponents except Diego Secondary, against whom they lost a close 1-2 battle.  With Diego however losing to the Futuristiks, St Joseph gained a spot in the semi-finals as the top finishers in the pool round.

St Joseph defeated the North Ruimveldt Multilateral School (NRMS), also of Guyana, in their semi-final to set up a repeat match against Diego, who edged past Futuristiks in the other semi-final.

The St Joseph boys were up for the challenge in the entertaining final, as they managed to reverse their fortunes against Diego with a 4-2 victory to lift the trophy.

The tournament’s leading scorer, Warren Williams, was on fire for St Joseph as he chalked up two goals in the final with Nandalall Persaud and Louis Adams scoring one each.

St Joseph secured several individual awards at the final presentation with Warren Williams receiving the Most Goals award for Under-16, Paul DeAndrade the Best Goalkeeper award for Under-21. Paul DeAndrade and Nandalall Persaud were named to the All-Star selection.

The NRMS appeared to be the youngest team in the competition but managed to finish in a creditable fourth position.

The GCC Bingo Spartans were even more dominant in the Girls Under-16 competition, winning all but one of their pool matches. They drew against a combined school team aptly named Combined.

With Combined defeating the Magnolias in their semi-final, they had a third crack at the Spartans in the Girls’ Under-16 final. The Combined goalkeeper put on a fantastic performance in the final and made the Spartans sweat to earn their opener, minutes into the second half through a penalty corner shot from the tournament’s top scorer Sarah Klautky.

While Combined had their chances, the Spartans earned several penalty corners in the second half which were well defended by Combined to keep the score at 1-0.

At the final buzzer the Spartans were jubilant as they celebrated their undefeated run to the title.

The Spartans carted off four individual awards at the presentation, with Madison Fernandes securing the Most Valuable Player award, Sarah Klautky receiving the Most Goals award, Jessica Mittelholzer the Best Goalkeeper, having conceded no goals, and Makeda Harding being named to the All-Star team for defenders.

The St Joseph girls and boys finished at the bottom of the table in their respective Under-21 competitions but, with those teams comprising many players who are still under the age of 16, a bright future lies ahead.

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