“I CANNOT tell you how excited we are to be here after two years of absence of this tournament due to, as we all know, our pandemic situation. And we are here to launch the 9th edition of this tournament.

“To the management and staff of this company, COURTS Guyana Inc., we want to say ‘thank you’ for your commitment. You have really demonstrated what you believe in, bringing value home.

“You will definitely bring value to the lives of these youngsters who will be participating in this tournament. At its best, football is a powerful force for the good of society and in this case it provides a platform for these young kids to be involved in at an early age so they can realise their inner ability/talent that otherwise would not have been.”

“It gives them an opportunity to interact with kids from different background and also help to develop leaders in their own right and even contribute to their physical attributes, and so we see how important this investment is.” co-director of the Petra Organisation, Troy Mendonca, stated in his opening remarks at yesterday’s launch at the COURTS Main Street building.

Also in attendance were: Technical Director of Guyana Football Federation (GFF) Bryan Joseph, Kurt Braithwaite of the Ministry of Education Allied Arts, and Director of Consumer Finance COURTS Guyana Inc., Richard Allan.

Braithwaite, on behalf of the Unit of Allied Arts, in his brief address, said that the ministry is vey happy to be part of any activity that helps with the development of children across our country. He expressed gratitude to COURTSs Inc.. and Petra.

“As it relates to football the best place we can start is the grassroots level and that is what the Petra Organisation has been doing.

“The Ministry of Education is on board with any such programme where development is concerned. We are talking social development, physical development, mental development and understanding that socialisation can come in many forms. And being part of sport makes it even better because we have children participating from as far as Timehri, East Coast, Region Three and Georgetown. Hopefully in time to come we can have it extended to all the Regions.” Braithwaite declared.

Joseph, in his remarks, was loud in praise for the Petra Organisation and COURTS Inc. collaboration, stating that providing competition for Pee Wee is very special and he hoped that in the future it could be extended nationally.

“I cannot congratulate the Petra Organisation enough. You are a valued partner to the GFF. Over the years we have recognised that GFF cannot develop football singlehandedly; we need partners like COURTS Inc. and Petra,” Joseph quipped.

“It is definitely a privilege to be here this afternoon to be part of this launch. Firstly, I would like to commend the Ministry of Education and the Petra Organisation for this initiative for the holistic development of the young people of Guyana.

“We spoke about health and discipline. We at COURTS are proud to be associated with the programme. Being a good corporate citizen is what we are all about at COURTS. We have been part of the landscape of Guyana for the past 29 years. We are currently celebrating our 29th anniversary.

“We really strive to contribute to the communities which we serve. .We are definitely proud to be part of this programme today. We know that the young people are the future and we really want to support such programmes.

“I would like to commend everyone for the effort on the work that has been done and would like to wish all the teams the best in the competition,” Allan gleefully announced.

The 9th annual COURTS Pee Wee tournament for schools will kick off on the October 8 and conclude on November 19. 24 teams – six groups of 4 – will play each other in the preliminary stage. The top 2 teams of each group and the best four 3rd-placed teams will advance to the KO round of 16. Positions 1 to 16 will be determined, with the winners and runners-up receiving trophies and medals. The 3rd and 4th positions will also collect prizes. In addition, there will be individual prizes at stake..
Brands manager for COURTS, Krystal Van Sluytman disclosed that a tablet will be given to each member of this year’s winning team.