Football Academy underway
–         Students urged to stay in school, scholarships are available
STUDENTS from the twelve participating schools were reminded at the opening ceremony of the 2nd annual Scotiabank/Pepsi Schools’ Football Academy tournament to remain in school for there are a lot of good opportunities available to them. At a simple march past of teams before officials of the academy and the Guyana Football Federation (GFF); parents and school teachers, an overview of the academy was given by tournament organiser Lawrence Griffith who outlined the academy’s success and proposed the future goals as set out by the academy.
Griffith noted that seven females from the academy last year went on to represent Guyana at the CONCACAF U 17 tournament and one at the U20 level. Noting also that Ms Shonnette Gaspar was selected and is expecting a scholarship either in Canada or the United States of America.
Technical Director of the academy Stanley Harmon in his short address expressed gratitude to the sponsors and the schools for responding to the call to develop Guyana’s football.
He echoed the earlier sentiments to the students to remain in school and to acquire the best academics so that they can have a balance education and sport career, having a scholarship,  as he urged them to play fair and to the best of their ability.
Marketing Manager Jenifer Cipriani confirmed her company’s involvement in this project a success as she indicated that Scotiabank is very pleased to be associated with the academy and noted that the academy has a career for all the participants as they remain focus, playing the game to the highest level and assisting Guyana to develop the game to another level.
She noted that Scotiabank will continue to support the academy and wished the participants a good tournament.
Other speakers were DDL’s representative Mrs. Langhorne, who expressed satisfaction in the response of the schools and indicated the company has a commitment to the development of football at all levels and as would have seen in the past their involvement in tournament of a larger age group. She urged the participants to play hard, fair and wished them all a good tournament.
Lindley Langhorne, Ministry of Education representative told the participants that this is an excellent opportunity for them to gain a number of things from this tournament and academy. He spoke of them networking, and that having the opportunity to compete against eleven other football schools of their age group is a notable experience.
Expressing that other benefits of morals, playing by the instructions of the coach, the rules of the game and the rules of the family from which they came were some of the things he highlighted. He continued by acknowledging the importance of school and having a balance of academics with sports and urged the students to work hard to achieve such.
Former national player/Coach Gordon Brathwaite who represented the Ministry of Culture, Youth & Sport expressed his personal gratitude to the organisers for such a positive initiative and with the same breath indicated that he was sorry that he could not be a player again to participate in a structured organizing of the sport in this tournament.
He noted the he never got the opportunity to play in an academy and urged the students to stay in school. He noted that this academy had bore some fruit in having some male players represent Guyana at the Inter Guiana Games (IGG) and will be looking at some more potential players again to be a part of that team.
In concluding, acting president of the Guyana Football Federation Frankie Wilson expressed thanks to all involved in having the tournament and academy and indicated that Guyana will in 2012 enjoy football as never before.
Noting the success of the Golden jaguars and their continuation on the road to the 2014 World Cup qualifier, he indicated that a lot of new things will be in football. He noted that out of a just concluded Caribbean Football Union (CFU), a new grassroots programme will be launched soon and Guyana will be benefiting from it.
Wilson told the students that there is need for them to remain in school and aim for the top, mentioning eighteen year old Golden Jaguars Trayon Bobb who now plays professional football in Trinidad’s Caledonia AIA club, as a fitting example for them.
He concluded by wishing them all well in the tournament and the academy.