By Iva Wharton
The second annual Kingston Grassroots Under-13 Soccer Academy will commence today at the Banks DIH Limited Thirst Park ground after a one week delay.
The programme was scheduled to start last Saturday.
Organiser, Junior Forrester, yesterday told Stabroek Sport that he was ready to commence the programme last Saturday but said the teams did not show up.
He said that he was later told that letters seeking permission needed to be sent to the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) and the Georgetown Football Association (GFA).
“Last year we did this tournament and now everybody wants a letter from their federation stating that they were approved to play the tournament, so that was the delay and no one showed up because of that.”
Forrester said everything was now in place. A letter was sent to the GFA while the GFF was notified by phone.
Teams also received individual letters.
According to Forrester, he has no intention of being caught up in the impasse between the GFF and the GFA as his focus was and still remains the development of football at the under-113 level.
“I don’t see division among youth. Whatever I do, I don’t do it for money and it is done off of my own free will. So when it comes to youth there should not be a division. The kids want to play, let them play. It should not have a GFF/GFA stopping them.”
The programme he said is not just about football, but preparing well rounded individuals that are capable of taking on the challenges of life.
Apart from the one-day tournament, Forrester a former footballer himself, said that he started a football academy in 2009 which he hopes can be resuscitated for players some of whom are less fortunate.
Forrester said he has been able to secure more sponsorship to expand the programme. He said that there has also been some amount of sponsorship from the United States especially from the Fingers family, whom, he said were very instrumental in providing uniforms for the players.
“Banks has totally come on board in a sense with their Powerade brand.
I spoke with one of the brand managers who said that he was willing to assist. It is going to be fun, last year they enjoyed it, there were no problems, they played and had fun.”
Sherwin Maxwell, coach of Pele Football Club, said last year, his team finished second and this year they are looking for a first place finish.
