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Mere hours after completing it’s fifth title for the season, Joe Public Football Club held its end of year ceremony for its coaching school at which 377 youngsters were presented with certificates and awards at the Marvin Lee Stadium. The club’s general manager Daryll Warner as well as club administrator Sam Phillip and coaching school director Rudy Roberts were on hand to spend Saturday morning with the participants ranging from age 5-18. One of the highlights of the ceremony was a voluntary address made by one of the coaching school members, Akiel Hernandez who suffers from cerebral palsy. Hernandez spoke of the trials of trying to play football with his condition but thanked everyone at the club for helping him become a stronger individual.

“For the past two and a half years I have been playing football with Joe Public. Since then I have been growing stronger physically and spiritually, mentally and emotionally. I just want you all to know that I never had any strength in my right leg. I could not even kick a ball with it. I reached closer to God by just praying a little more and asking him for guidance and now I have gained a lot of confidence in myself and a lot of my strength in my right leg. Since I am here, my doctor, Dr Toby is very proud of me due to my improvement... thanks to Joe Public,” Hernandez said, afterwards being hugely applauded by the other participants and parents in the audience.

Roberts, a long standing servant in local football, said one of the key ingredients in the club’s overall success was the foundation being laid at the youth level. Several members of the club’s Senior team were past members of the coaching school including head coach Derek King. “There is a certain level of discipline we try to instill at the various levels starting at the youngest age group and every weekend we have close to three hundred kids attending the training that the club offers and we have seen tremendous growth over the past ten years,” Roberts said. Hernandez received a special awards while other awardees included Zachary James (Most Improved Under 7 player), Kyron Fortune (Most Improved Under 13 player), Brandon Khillawan (Most Improved Under 11 player and Gregory Hackett (Most Improved Player at the Under 17 level).