With the aim of attracting a record 160 schools from the 10 regions of Guyana, Digicel on Monday launched its third annual schools’ football championships in the Savannah Suites of the Pegasus Hotel.
The premier secondary school football competition is set to kick off on June 21.
At the launch, officials of Digicel and its partners outlined their vision for the tournament, which has already attracted 130 schools so far. In the inaugural tournament in 2011, 128 schools participated while last year that number rose to 152.
This year the telecommunication company is seeking to surpass the number of entries from last year, and from all indications, it is on course to do so. Already, 20 new schools have registered to be part of this year’s programme.
Speaking at the launch, president of the Guyana Football Federation (GFF), Christopher Matthias, said the investment in football at the school level by Digicel is a step in the right direction.
With the aim of ensuring that the 2013 tournament matches surpasses the success rate of the previous two competitions, Marketing Executive of Digicel, Jacqueline James, said the company has been working assiduously to lay the groundwork.
“I just want to say that in preparation for this year’s championship we have conducted quite a few seminar and coaching sessions, mainly the referee seminar we had was conducted by Mr [Roy] McArthur of the Guyana Football Referees Council. Also we had a two-day coaching session which involved coaches of the various schools, as well as an intensive session for students who would be participating in this year’s championship; these students came from East and West Coast, West Bank and of course Georgetown. Of course that covered a few hundred students who will be participating in this year’s championship and those who we presume would want to participate in next year’s championship,” James explained.
She also pointed out that Social Life Ministries Counselling Services for the first time will be conducting sessions on topical areas for the benefit of the students during the course competition.
Apart from etching its name on the beautiful wooden lien trophy, the champion school will receive a trophy for keeps, while it will receive a hefty monetary sum for the funding of a project of its choice.