160 players and around 200 spectators participated in Academy Sports Club’s first Corporate Cup 7 a-side tournament held this past Saturday at the Academy field.
16 teams participated in the tournament which was held to raise funds to support Academy’s 5 youth teams to compete internationally in July.
The event was organised by Academy U13 coach Paul Byles who led a committee of board members and coaches.
“Based on the feedback we received, the event was a huge success and the players enjoyed the day which was one of our objectives” said Mr Byles.
Byles said the goal was to have a very well organised event where teams had all the support they needed and could just focus on play and rest in between their games.
The tournament was organised in 4 groups and essentially followed a world cup pool format but with group winners going straight to the semi finals.
The games were played in 8 minutes halves and the agenda was jam packed and exciting but very tightly managed.
CML Claymores, Digicel, Butterfield Dragons and Ritz Carlton Lions all won their respective groups.
Burger King, BDO Boys, Caledonian and Caribbean Impact took home the group runner up trophies.
In the semi finals Butterfield beat Digicel in a hard fought match which went to extra time and then penalties.
In the other semi final, Ritz Carlton Lions who won every game in their group matches, continued their winning streak during the tournament by beating CML Claymores to get to the finals.
The final, which was refereed by youth ref Thompson Hew, was a tight match with the winning goal coming from the Ritz Carlton Lions with less than 40 seconds from the final whistle.
One of the achievements of the day, according to Byles, was the role played by the youth referees. The youth referees were Ryan Burke, Thompson Hew, Sean Whewell and Adbul Patterson.
“Our U17 coach Glen Whewell arranged for 4 qualified youth referees, 3 of which are Academy players, to officiate all the matches. For me it was an extraordinary performance from these 4 teenagers. They kept the games on schedule and handled 27 matches in 4 and a half hours very effectively. We are all very proud of them”, said Byles.
Academy Head coach Mr Virgil Seymour stated “we are very grateful to the business community for participating in the event and based on feedback received we will definitely be having another event before the year is out”.
“Giving our players aged from 8 to 17 years old the international experience playing abroad is very important for their football development and this type of support makes that a reality”, Seymour added.
Butterfield Dragons team player, Dwight Moxam, stated “Not only is this for a great cause, it’s been a long time that I have participated in a tournament where it ran like clockwork. It was a wonderful day and always great when it’s to support the kids”.
Other participating teams were: Affordable Insurance, Island Builders, Solomon Harris, Deloitte, Security Centre, Maples Fiduciary, Crighton Properties and a team from the C4C.
Academy Sports Club is one of Cayman’s leading youth focused football clubs. The club’s under 14 team recently performed well against visiting English professional club Swindon Town in a match at the Annex which ended in a 2-2 draw.
