St Bess futsal tournament hopes to unearth talent

June 26, 2019
Dr Dwaine Spencer

People’s National Party caretaker for South East St Elizabeth, Dr Dwaine Spencer, has announced the launch of the ‘Futsal – Under the Lights’ football competition, to be held at the Ray Gendron Recreation Centre in Nain, in the parish from July 20 to August 24.

Spencer said that the competition is aimed at giving youth a platform to express their football talents.

“We wanted to facilitate a programme where we can encourage young people not only with a source of entertainment, but with healthy living,” Spencer explained. “Hopefully, this competition will allow for persons to express their talent, and, hopefully, get drafted into a football programme. Our target is really anyone from age 15 up.”

The competition will be open to 16 teams Spencer explained that each team will be allowed to carry eight players who will be registered for the competition with a stipulated clause that disallows teams to register additional players after the competition starts.

He further explained that while the competition is geared towards the communities of the constituency, there are no rules that would prevent teams from other parishes from competing.

Spencer believes that a wealth of talent can be found during this competition and cites Lejaun Bailey, a Munro College student and a resident of the region, who was selected for a trip to Camp Nou, home of Spanish giants Barcelona, after being selected from a sponsored competition through the Talent of Tomorrow (TOT) Football Academy.

Spencer hopes this feat can be replicated.

“He (Bailey) was selected to go through a training process to see if they will allow him to join their academy. So, hopefully, this competition can do something like that for other players,” he explained.

Spencer explained that the competition has garnered interest from various companies, however, thought it better to withhold the details until the various sponsorships are finalised.

The grand prize for winning the tournament is $100,000.

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