The SAB Playing Field will come alive when over 250 young football enthusiasts converge on that facility from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Thursday June 20th (Corpus Christi) to take part in the Sandals Resorts International / Trevor Daniel Football Development Programme.
The two organizations, who continue to lead the way in their respective fields, will once again come together to engage the youth of Saint Lucia hoping to set the tone for their coming vacation with the “Sandals Summer Slam” In-house Tournament.
According to Daniel, the seven hour event will see players lace on their boots to play for gold.
The players aged 4 to 17 years will come from 26 primary and secondary schools in the north of the island, the majority of whom are members of the Flow Trevor Daniel FDP; however the tournament is open to all footballers from all schools, clubs, churches and communities.
Registration is easy; parents just need to send a WhatsApp message to 486-8955 and kids will be placed into “Team Houses” for the day.
Everyone who signs up will play 3 preliminary matches, 7 versus 7 or 6 versus 6 (medium size goals) and the two top teams will play a championship match for trophies and medals.
The age categories are: Under -7’s – 5 and 6 years (cannot turn 7 this year); Under – 9’s – 7 and 8 years (cannot turn 9 this year); Under -11’s – 9 and 10 years (cannot turn 11 this year); Under -13’s – 11 and 12 years (cannot turn 13 this year); Under – 15’s – 13 and 14 years (cannot turn 15 this year) and Under -18’s – 15, 16 and 17 years (cannot turn 18 this year).
Trevor Daniel said, “This event is very important as it is not “just football”. In the current environment we find children being less active and playing outdoors has become a scarce occurrence, if at all. During the period 1970’s to 1990’s (maybe before) summer vacations meant; throwing stones at and climbing mango trees, rolling tires with 2 broom sticks all day, all day out-goes in cricket, unorganized 5-hour football matches for melted icicles, marking the sidewalks with broken concrete blocks to “hop scotch” away, whipping out a Chinese skip rope and jumping ‘til after sunset”.
He added, “Now kids are being entrapped and immobilized by gadgets. The phones, tablets, computers and video games are doing a great disservice to the youth & the health of the nation. While they provide a convenient form of entertainment/engagement for the youth, the increase in reported children with obesity and the lack of an active healthy lifestyle in adults can be directly linked to the gadgets. An inactive nation is an unhealthy nation! We hope that through this event kids & parents will be enticed to seek various outdoor activities for this summer; we hope that they will “taste & want more” all summer long.
Daniel believes that this tournament also offers an opportunity to see the TDFDP members play with; amongst and against children from various football environments.
He said, “Our coaching staff will get to assess and evaluate our coaching practices and methods while the young footballers will be having a fun football experience, being teamed up with and playing against non-TDFDP members. From this we will tailor our 2019 – 2020 technique curriculum and we will push our members further ahead come the new school year.”
The organizers expressed gratitude to the title sponsors Sandals Resorts International for continued support throughout the years, as well as to other sponsors including Flow and the Recreational Center of Saint Lucia.