Academy squads shine at US football tourney
Academy team captains after the USA Cup
(CNS Local Life): Academy Sports Club recently recorded their best performance ever at the 33rd annual Schwan’s USA Cup, returning with trophies for two championship and one runners-up, a semifinalist spot and two quarterfinalist positions. The club sent 96 players to the weeklong competition, representing the boys U10, U12, U13, U15 and U17, and girls U12, teams.
The U10 boys and U12 girls teams earned Gold Cup and Silver Cup, respectively, while for other Gold Cups, the U15 boys were runners up, the U13 and U12 boys were quarterfinalists, and the U17 boys finished as semifinalists.
“We are extremely pleased with the results we achieved this week,” said Paul Byles, Academy’s U13/U15 boys head coach. “While it is obviously exciting to bring home trophies and medals, the more important factor for us is that our players received the international experience needed for them to develop as footballers at this great tournament.”
It was the first time the club had brought a girls team to the competition, and Academy head coach Virgil Seymour said he was proud of the squad’s accomplishment
“All of the teams went above and beyond and performed extremely well at the tournament,” Seymour said. “We have to give a special congratulations to our girls team on winning the trophy at their first international tournament. We look forward to further expanding our girls programme and bringing them to many more tournaments in the future.”
He added, “The next step will be taking all the exposure and lessons from this week and applying them to our upcoming season.”
Byles said that the achievement of the club’s older teams was also significant. “We have had success at the younger age groups at various international tournaments over the past eight years, but have always strived to get our older players aged 14 and over to a higher standard.
“This year marks a huge achievement as our U15s made it the Gold finals and our U17 teams made it to the semifinals. It shows that we are competing now at all ages internationally which is not only good for Academy Sports Club but also generally for the Cayman Islands.”
Congratulations, well done.