Latest update April 28th, 2026 12:30 AM
Digicel aiming to deliver higher quality tournament
– Coaches retained and conducting clinics in Regions
Correctly labeled as the biggest football tournament to be played among schools, Digicel, organiser of the nationwide event is once again pulling out all the stops to make it even bigger, better this year.
Players who’re attending the sessions take a photo op during a break in the practice.
In order to do this, the Company has embarked on ensuring that preparations to deliver another high quality tournament is of utmost priority hence the recruitment of a large cadre of former national players and coaches who’re assigned to the respective regions to improve the all round standard of players.
The tournament which started in 2011 has been a huge success with over 100 schools from all over the country participating in the annual event.
Yesterday, Kaieteur Sport visited the Wales Community Centre to chat with Coach Orville Bobb and his Assistant Kelvin Roberts about the preparations of the three schools which they are consigned to.
Bobb, who has been specifically retained by Digicel, is currently conducting sessions at the Centre for students from the Patentia, L’Aventure and La Retraite Secondary Schools, said that the turnout has been good, but the inclement weather has been affecting the smooth flow of preparations.
“I’m quite satisfied with the attendance to date and this is despite the persistent rainfall which has left the ground waterlogged in some places and difficult to practice certain drills, while CXC is still ongoing and some of the players are taking extra lessons, but I must say that those two constraints have minimally affected the turnout,” Bobb stated.
He said the players are all enthusiastic and rearing to get into action and it is their eagerness that has encouraged them to turnup every day to dispense their knowledge.
Questioned on what aspects of the game they were able to impart so far, Bobb said that the players have learnt to trap the ball, dribble the ball and more importantly retain possession of the ball.
Giving his view on the importance of the tournament, Bobb stated that, “this tournament to my mind is extremely important for the development of youth football, especially when you consider that within the next 3-4 years many of them could be vying for a place on the national team.”
In reference to the format of the tournament, Roberts said that it is very good since if you’re lucky to come out of your particular zone there is the possibility of playing a team from another zone in another part of the country and this is valuable experience for young players to get use to playing in front of partisan supporters.
Roberts and Bobb indicated that many of the players that participated last year will be returning this year and they expect the standard to be much higher than the previous year.
“I expect the level of skills that will be displayed this year will be much better and a lot of the players seem excited and committed to giving a better performance this time around,” Bobb mentioned.
He said he is hoping that the weather improves during the week so that the players could benefit from the full allotment of sessions as the tournament nears. Sessions are being conducted twice weekly, but Roberts who is in-charge of coaching at the Centre, also provides training for players desirous of attending sessions more than twice weekly.
Meanwhile, some of the Csoaches have been conducting sessions on the West and East Coasts of Demerara, while some have also been doing clinics outside of Demerara.
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