Organisers of this season’s Veterans Inc. Football Tournament say the ever- increasing popularity of the ‘family-friendly’ oriented competition is set for a ‘grueling’ challenge.
Prior to the commencement of the main draw, scheduled to formally kick off today. November12 with 5 to 6 players participating in a mini event ‘Kick For A Cure’, to be held at the Daren Sammy Cricket Ground [DSCG].
At a press briefing this week, management of the Veterans Inc. crew outlined the agenda for the upcoming event.
Most notably, the tagline “Kick for a Cure” ran true and featured prominently as respective speakers and sponsor representatives to the podium, all indicated their interest to support this worthy cause.
While acknowledging the perseverance and support from his team, CEO of Veterans In Sports, Alvin Malaykhan, said the crew remains “dedicated and committed to this execution”.
Quote: “We will continue to pride ourselves in being organisers of events that shape both the sport of football and the country, in a positive and meaningful way,” said Malaykhan.
He added, “We have not seen and played (against) each other in a while, therefore we do anticipate that this season will be full of fun, excitement, camaraderie and great competition.”
With players eager to get going post the COVID-19 crisis that temporarily halted the tournament, Vets Inc. team member Tennyson Glasgow, signaled that with younger players being drawn to the fold “we are in for a really grueling season …because we are going to see some new faces, and the younger guys are filled with enthusiasm.”
A representative from the St Lucia Cancer Society was elated with the Veterans Inc. input into the workload undertaken by the association. Some of the services provided by the SLCS includes; patient navigation, provision of necessary accessories to patients, free wigs, breast prosthesis, and lip balms among other things.
“This year, we are offering 100 women free mammograms, because mammograms is important …and you go for mammograms every year and it’s important to get checked,” said the SLCS rep.
The representative cautioned that men too can get breast cancer as males have “breast tissues…so men too, should be able to go and have a breast examination”. The SLCS also offers financial support to patients to enable them to undergo investigations on their medical conditions and subsequent treatment for diagnosed illnesses.
Director of Sports, Jim Xavier was one of the featured speakers at the event. He noted that the Ministry for Youth Development and Sports is also keen on “developing healthy lifestyles …and the Veterans in Sports also falls under the healthy lifestyles programme, and so we are committed to supporting this programme.”
Xavier appealed to the veterans’ players “to serve as role models to the younger generation, so by your action the younger persons can emulate you and we could really take football and sports to another level.”
Other corporate sponsors included; Courts Ready Cash, Sports St Lucia Inc. (SSLI), St Lucia Distillers and KFC.
Veterans in Sports Ambassador, Earl “Ballhog” Jean, a former national player and soccer professional expressed profound sentiments about the tournament, reiterating that, “Veterans (competition) is not just about the playing and winning tournaments …it’s about what we do to give back to Saint Lucia, what we give back to our communities and what we give back to our players.”
[R.A]