Carmona hails champs Shiva Boys

Shiva Boys won their inaugural Premier Division Secondary Schools Football League title recently and earned the most number of points of any team which won the title in its short history.

Accompanying the players at Office of the President were Shiva Boys principal Dexter Sakal, manager of the team Kishore Bajnath and head coach Hayden Ryan. In his address to the players Carmona said he admired the team’s work ethic which led to the successful season. Carmona said, “right now Shiva Boys Hindu College is a household name. Everybody is asking questions about you all. What is important is the spirit and character of the man that lies within the man. You were prepared to work hard, train hard and win hard in a united way and I have to commend you all for doing that.”

Carmona encouraged the players to dream big. “I feel gentlemen that everyone of you here is capable of reaching international heights. It is going to be difficult, it is extremely difficult to get into professional football.” Carmona told the Shiva Boys players to use former national footballer Dwight Yorke as an example. “One of the things about Dwight Yorke I always hear people talk about is after a match he will stay on the field after the national team has gone home and he will stay on the pitch, training and training and training in order to improve his ball skills.

I understand he has a very strong work ethic as a footballer and that is something your coach would have told you all about the need to have a sense of strong work ethic to get there.” The President told the students to show the same enthusiasm off the football field. “The camaraderie, the guts, the determination that you all have displayed on the field, I want you all to display that same determination in your education, so at the end of the day we have a rounded individual, a well groomed individual who in fact is performing at all levels.” Carmona also wants to see the best Caribbean footballers battling each other in a tournament in the near future.

Carmona asked, “why it is we have the Caribbean Cup for senior footballer players, (and we) don’t have a Caribbean Colleges Cup. In other words the top Intercol teams throughout the Caribbean region coming in one particular country to fight for the Caribbean Colleges Cup. That is my dream.” Carmona believes a Caribbean Cup will encourage international scouts to come to the Caribbean to look at the talented footballers.

Shiva Boys captain Tyrell Emmanuel was thankful for the opportunity to meet the President.

Emmanuel said, “your Excellency on behalf of the Shiva Boys Hindu College team and all the media here, I will like to thank you for the opportunity to be here and it is a very grateful feeling to meet you as the President. It has been a very tough season for us. We worked very hard during the pre-season and this season, and we are very thankful for lifting the trophy and becoming champions. We wish that we will win the Intercol and Big Four this season.” Principal Sakal also thanked Carmona for inviting the team. “It is really an honour and privilege you should invite us to your residence for us to meet with you.

I know for these young men meeting with you and being honoured in this way really impresses upon them their achievement. Nobody has recognised us as a group in this way.” Ryan said a winning mentality helped the team during the season.

Ryan stated, “coming into this year, the team needed to know that they are champions before a whistle was blown and a ball was kicked and I started preaching championship material in everyone of them, letting them know everytime I talk that this year 2016 we will lift the trophy as champions.”