Academy brings home trophies from USA Cup
(CNS Local Life): Academy Sports Club has returned carrying hardware from this year’s USA Cup, earning two championship trophies, with its remaining teams reaching the quarterfinals in their divisions. Academy took its largest contingent to date to the tournament, which was held in the US state of Minnesota 16-20 July, with five boys’ and two girls’ teams competing.
The U12 boys won the gold ‘A’ bracket championship and the U12 girls won the silver ‘B’ bracket championship.
In addition to the two trophies, the club’s U14 boys, U16 boys and U17 boys all won their groups and made it through to the ‘A’ bracket quarterfinals, stated a press release. Both the U17 and U14 boys narrowly missed out on the semifinals stage after drawing tight matches with opponents, playing extra time and losing in penalty shootouts.
Academy’s U11 boys and U14 girls made it through to their respective ‘B’ bracket quarterfinals and also gave “impressive performances”, the club said in the release.
Academy also took five older players, two boys and three girls, to participate as guests on teams from the US, Mexico and Denmark. These players gained valuable international experience and performed very well, the club said. One of the guest players, Jennifer Licona, won the U19 Women’s Gold Championship with Koldingq from Denmark.
Paul Byles, head of youth development and U16/17 coach, said of the tournament, “Academy has proudly represented not only our club but the Cayman Islands for eight years at the USA Cup. Our youth football has improved significantly over this period as we have used these summer competitions to gauge the progress of our youth football programme.”
Academy’s technical director Virgil Seymour said he was very proud of the teams’ consistent performances at international tournaments. “On behalf of the club we especially thank Paul Byles for his leadership and efforts on these trips as well as in our youth football programme generally. I also want to thank our team physio Mr Al Bartice; our coaches Claudio, Ben, Fabian, Ian and Martin; and our hardworking team managers Sandra, Tanya, Sharleen, Debbie, Michelle and Tammy,” said Seymour.
“Thanks also to the many other volunteers and parents and sponsors who helped to make this trip such a huge success again this year,” he added.
