– the little football club with big dreams

By Alva Solomon
They train three times a week after school hours. The team is made up of a group of teenage boys, with one of them being as young as 11-years-old.

Their aim: to unite and develop football in this part of the country which has produced some of the better national footballers to represent Guyana. Meet team Hosororo United.
The names Christopher Valenzuela, Jonathan Peters, Elton Brown, Ronel Hernandez and Errol Solomon have been written in the history books of football in Guyana for a number of years. Those footballers all have something in common – they started their game at the Hosororo Hill community centre ground, commonly known as the “ballfield.”
It is this rich history of football which has influenced the lives of many young men from this part of the country. Team coach Delano Valenzuela and manager Gilbert Solomon mobilized the young team of talented players to train and compete among themselves and with the seniors as they prepare to take on the more established clubs in the region and in the capital city. The coach and manager both grew up playing football in Mabaruma and have also featured in matches around the region and in the city.
The team is made up of players not only from Hosororo Hill but communities nearby including Barabina Hill, Mabaruma Settlement, Bumbury Hill and the Kumaka Stretch. The youngest member of the team is 11-years old while the eldest is 16- years old.
The days of training are Mondays, Wednesday and Friday, the coach noted during a recent interview as the team’s training session progressed one afternoon.

He said the young men play football for their schools; some have represented their school in the Digicel school championships.
But competition is sharp at the regional level, and Hosororo United is unbeaten in local competitions across the Mabaruma sub-Region. Currently, the team is preparing for their first tour out of Mabaruma. They are headed to the Moruca sub-region where they are expected to engage in a few games against teams from that part of Region One. Later, they plan to travel to the capital to engage in competitions with teams there.
Valenzuela said that the team began under the guidance of manager Gilbert Solomon, a businessman in the area, two years ago after it was noticed that there was an absence in players being groomed to represent the region.
“The long term goal is see these guys representing top clubs as the seniors and also play for Guyana in future.”
Solomon played for the Thomas United team while Christopher Valenzuela represented the Camptown football club in Campbellville in Georgetown. Peters also played for Camptown while Brown, who started at Camptown , enjoyed a fruitful career at Alpha United , Guyana’s number one football club. He scored many a goal for that club and was considered one of the more prolific players in the game.
“Now we have these guys, some who come from outside the community; we are the best thing now in terms of youths in the game and being organized”, the Coach asserted. He said the resources for the team such as gears, are purchased by the players, while the club would receive donations from past players including Solomon and former national player Christopher Barnwell and Hernandez. The manager also set-up an account and their needs are budgeted with the small sum.
Some of the players toured the region and the country in the Digicel competition but the team’s first trip as a united club is expected to commence in the weeks ahead with the tour of Moruca.
The cost for such trips is as expensive as $240,000 and this includes hiring of a vessel to transport the team to and from the destination, as well a food and beverages.
Valenzuela said the Digicel competition has made a positive impact on the game in the communities’ there.” It is a good experience because I was one of the coaches along with a few others and they did well,” he said. He said last year during that competition, a team from Port Kaituma stood out and the Hosororo team is working to take over that position.
“We are grooming them to do well, and to engage well after here because last year we had two persons who left for training in the United States,” he said. The two lads, Romario Welcome and Ralph Parris, who were invited by Hernandez and other former national players to train in the US, received good reviews from the clubs in the US.
Both players, having returned after their stint are doing well in the city. Romario dons the colours of the Georgetown Football Club (GFC) and Parris plays for a top school team.
The coach said that there is much talent in the region which has not been exploited. To this end, he said the government should focus on assisting the teams through the schools and organize competitions for them to compete and be motivated. He said former national players are displaying an interest in assisting the team and while the technical team can do its best, he noted that there is need for coaching clinics and workshops and refereeing.
As regards the football umbrella body, Guyana Football Federation (GFF), the coach noted that he cannot recall anyone from the GFF travelling to that area to discuss or engage anyone in the game. He said scouting for talent and presenting ideas to the teams in the region can boost the game in the region. The manager, Gilbert, noted too that there were plans through the regional sports officer to engage the GFF but such plans never materialized.
But the team is being assisted by an unlikely body. According to Valenzuela, the Guyana Police Force, through the Mabaruma Police station, has adopted the club and according to the management, the police plans to invest in developing the talent of the youths in the team. He said the Police have signaled its intention to assist with basic expenses such as transportation. In addition, the lawmen also pledged to provide institutional support, and to assist in developing the skills of the team members through scholarships.
Valenzuela noted that there is also another factor which is influencing the development of the game with immediate impact. “Up here in the region almost everybody has cable so these guys would see the who –is -who of football daily, be it Chelsea, Barcelona , Arsenal and the teams in La Liga,” he noted. In fact the players already adopted their own call names. “We have a Ballotelli , a Cafu , there is a Ronaldo and one calls himself Neymar,” the coach noted.
When this publication caught-up with the team recently, the players were going through their paces under the watchful eyes of the Coach and Manager. Both superiors noted that discipline plays a critical role in the team’s development with much emphasis being placed on the player’s attending school regularly and being focused on their examinations.
The team is planning to tour the capital city in August this year but according to the management, they are in need of a few basic essentials. These include football shoes, uniforms and vests. The team plans to develop a Facebook page and according to the Coach, persons or organisations who are desirous of assisting the club can correspond via the social media platform.