Latest update November 21st, 2024 1:00 AM
Digicel Nationwide Schools Football Competition…Improved preparations, increased exposure makes tournament wide open
By Rawle Welch
Now that most of the activities related to Guyana’s 50th ‘Golden Jubilee’ Anniversary have eased, it is now time for the nation’s young ballweavers to focus their attention on getting ready for the start of this year’s Digicel Nationwide Schools Football Competition on Friday, June 10.
Part of the action between reigning champion Christianburg / Wismar and Uitvlugt Secondary School in Linden last year.
Digicel had reported that this year could see a 9% increase in schools participation and this is a clear indicator of the growing popularity and development benefits that are being derived from the staging of the tournament.
It also means that major stakeholders such as theMinistry of Education / Sport, teachers, scouts, clubs and the Guyana Football Federation are obviously satisfied with the achievements accumulated to date.
The intense rivalry and the mounting success of teams such as Christianburg / Wismar in this particular competition and Chase Academy in other tournaments is what have instigated the kind of rigorous preparations that we see now.
Schools are now seeing the true worth in investing the time necessary to do well because the benefits can be enormous for the winners in terms of the financial rewards that go towards a project (s) of their choice.
Already we’ve seen the two finalists from last year Christianburg / Wismar and Chase Academy go at each other in the undercard of the recently held Guyana versus Canada game and while it was just a friendly encounter, one could have determined the seriousness in which the two teams took the engagement.
It was a precursor for an anticipated showdown against each other should it materialise so coaches and supporters used the opportunity to make their own assessment.
The reverberations from that friendly game were felt both in the Georgetown-based community that Chase Academy is domiciled and the Mining Town of Linden, home to Christianburg / Wismar.
Chase Academy won that friendly skirmish by a 2-1 margin and the early prognosis from their camp is that they are confident of reversing last year’s result should the two meet in this year’s final.
On the other hand, the defending champions revealed that they fielded a weakened team, preferring to more or less experiment with some of the new players who will be showcased in this year’s competition and while they have the utmost respect for the opposition, they were unfazed by the loss.
What has been established is that they are a resilient team, accustomed to the underdog tag, so one is tempted to believe what they said about not being unduly worried about the loss.
There is no doubt that Chase Academy has improved immensely since that last meeting so it could be an interesting battle should they make the final.
However, the two reaching the final is not a done deal, a number of other schools are no doubt putting in the necessary preparatory work to give them the best chance of making it to the championship game and this year could very well see many of the established teams having to fight hard to stave off elimination.
Teams such as Waramadong, Dolphin, Lodge, Berbice High School, Uitvlugt, Mackenzie High School, New Amsterdam Technical Institute and Annai could all have a say in this year’s edition.
Every year the all-round quality of play shows significant improvement due to enhanced preparations and combined with the proclivity of clubs to expose its young players, this tournament could provide a treat for all.
Hopefully the rain doesn’t rob us of seeing the players display their skill and ability during the tournament’s duration.
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