MINUTES after St Anthony’s College “Westmoorings Tigers” completed a third straight success in the Secondary Schools Football League National RBTT Inter-Col final, team coach Nigel “Grovey” Grovesnor was thinking about giving up his position.
St Anthony’s defeated Vessigny 5-0 in the final at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, on Tuesday led by two goals from Troy Thompson while Akil De Freitas, Hans Rogers and Kevon Neaves added one each.
“I don’t want to sound like I’m bragging, but I don’t think there is anything else for me to achieve in the schools league.”
“In 21 years of coaching we have won the zonal league and Inter-Col titles, national league and national Inter-Col crowns, now for the fourth time, 1997 being the first.
“More significantly we have now won the Inter-Col three years straight to join San Fernando Technical (1969- 72) and Signal Hill Senior Comprehensive (1987-1989) as the only teams to win the crown three or more times in-a-row. This has capped off everything I feel.”
“When we won in 2002, Ron La Forest was the coach of the team and he did a great job as I was sick.
“I returned last year and repeated the national league and Inter-Col success of 2002 and while we only managed to win the national Inter-Col this time around, I have been occupied with coaching the national Under-17 team also.”
“It’s time to pass on the duties to assistant coaches Ronald “Hustler” Daniel and Sean “Choko” De Four, both ex-St Anthony’s College players.
“These guys have done a great job along with the other members of the staff in Anthony Clarence (manager), Dean Williams (trainer), Ricardo “Stevo” Stevenson (trainer) and Clifford Lezama (equipment custodian) for the entire season,” added Grovesnor.
Admitting it will be hard to stay away from the team completely he noted that he will be around to give advice when asked and hopes to concentrate on more administrative work with the team.
“My son (Qian) is a member of the national Under-17 team and I will like to dedicate some more time to help him develop as a player and person while spending some more time with the rest of the family is high on my agenda.”
Reflecting on the season, Grovesnor described it as very hard on most of the players since the team was relatively new.
With no fewer than eight newcomers, Grovesnor said credit must be given to senior players Kevon Neaves, Marshall, Kegan Davidson, Troy Thompson and Kareem “Scoobee” Freitas, who helped the younger ones fit in quickly.
“We started slowly, but the guys stayed and I think the key part of the season was losing the North Zone league title to Mucurapo Senior Comprehensive.
“After the second round defeat, team captain Yohance Marshall said he felt the defeats to “Compre” will make the team stronger and even though in the Inter-Col final we lost to them again, it actually did.
“Every year we loose players, but we had a good crop coming through in Johnathan Glen, Keron Sutton, Andre Sebro, Daniel Highley, and Jamal Wiggins. “They were all nurtured along and next year with the experienced gained from this season, they can only get better.”
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