Photo: A beaming Murrishka Richie OF St. Jago accepts the winners trophy from Ryan Silvera (Marketing Manager at KFC). St. Jago won the competition for the first time in 10 years.
St. Jago High School swept most of the awards at the Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA)/KFC/Locker Room Sports, Schoolgirl Football presentation ceremony for the 2014 season.
The school was claiming its first hold on the trophy in ten years and walked away with four of the top awards in addition to the winning trophy.
Captain Georgia Bailey who was absent from the ceremony due to exams was voted Best Defender, while 13 year old scoring sensation Shanhaine Nelson was named Most Promising Junior Player. Nelson scored 15 goals for St. Jago the same as she did last year.
National Under-17 captain Khadija Shaw was voted Most Valuable Player (MVP), while expectedly St. Jago head coach Robert Lewis was named Coach of the Year.
Shanay Ricketts of former champions Lennon High was named Best Goalkeeper and Nicole Broderick of losing finalists Excelsior High was the leading goal scorer in the competition with 37 goals.
The award for the top rural school went to Lennon High who finished third.
Speaking at the ceremony the President of ISSA, Dr. Walton Small praised the contribution of David Shirley of Locker Room Sports to the development of Schoolgirl football.”It is his baby,” claimed Dr. Small. “If it wasn’t for him, I don’t know where we would be. We will do our best to cement the relationship,” Small promised.
Small also highlighted the contribution of KFC who he said is “committed to the development of sports for young people in Jamaica. Many of the girls who represent Jamaica come straight out of this league so the contribution of the sponsors cannot be overstated.”
Mr. George Forbes singled out the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) for the support and guidance they provided to ISSA with regards to the running of the competition.
Raymond Grant, the General Secretary of the JFF took the opportunity to highlight what was happening in the Women’s programme in Jamaica at the moment. He made mention of the performance of the Senior team in the first leg of qualification for the World Cup where they played two games, winning by 14-0 and 7-0 to move on to the next stage in Trinidad.
The Under-15 is also back in training for the CONCACAF Under-15 Championships to be held in the Cayman Islands from August 6-17.
Ms Dahlia Black, the Chairperson for girls football at ISSA called for camps for the girls and noted the reduction in team participation to only 38 schools, due to a lack of subsidy for the programme.
In his brief remarks, Sponsorship Manager of KFC, Mr. Ryan Silvera gave indications that his company would be back on board next year giving hope to the increase in numbers that Ms. Black had called for.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login