Pele Football Club which is celebrating its 40th anniversary had another reason to celebrate when the club’s Under-15 team made a clean sweep of the inaugural Len’s Craft Optical/Sunburst Orange Juice Under-15 tournament.
At the presentation ceremony yesterday,
the club walked off with three individual prizes at the Georgetown Football Club Pavilion.
Pele captain and playmaker Ramello Fraser was adjudged as the tournament’s Most Valuable Player (MVP), Deshawn Benn claimed the Best Goalkeeper award and Kevin Andrews was declared the Highest Goal Scorer after accumulating eight goals.
Present at the ceremony was President of the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) Colin Klass, Company Secretary of Continental Group of Companies Percival Boyce Jr., Camptown New York President Ralph Green, Georgetown Football Association (GFA) Vice President Mark Phillips and representatives of the top teams.
Pele collected the Championship trophy and Gold medals, silver medals and the runner-up trophy were presented to Flamingo who lost to Pele in the final 5-4 on penalty kicks while Renaissance copped the third placed trophy and bronze medals for stunning Sunburst Camptown 1-0 in the third place encounter.
Camptown was rewarded with a trophy for their efforts while Georgetown Football Club (GFC) took the Fair Play Trophy which was donated by the Trophy Stall of Bourda Market.
Jones, who also represented Len’s Craft Optical, complimented the players and teams for their hard work during the tournament.
“I just want to encourage you to keep the dream alive, stay in school and be the best you can be. I can only continue to encourage you to stay focus, stay on the right path and it will happen for you,” he said.
Green, who donated the gold, silver and bronze medals and was instrumental in getting Caribbean Cargo to donate two trophies through Manager Bobby Vieira, informed the gathering of players and officials that he was committed to the development of youths.
“My whole thing about soccer is to make sure that the youths have something to occupy their time, playing ball and being active instead of just being idle. I was impressed with the level of play and energy I saw in the final. Playing ball without an education is not going to take you anyplace so you need to take note of that and stay in school.
Laing also commended the teams for making the tournament a success while informing that his passion was always about giving back especially to youths. He encouraged the youths to aim for the skies always, stay in school and continue to strive for excellence.
Tournament coordinator Franklin Wilson extended gratitude to all for making the tournament a success which included Len’s Craft Optical, Sunburst Orange Juice, Caribbean Cargo – Franklin ‘Bobby’ Vieira, Kashif & Shanghai Organisation, Guyana Football Federation, Ralph Green and the Trophy Stall of Bourda Market were the sponsors of the tournament.
