Coach Hendrickson: ‘It was the icing on the cake’

Chester Hendrickson, Coach of the triumphant Layou team, which champed the Dells Apartments National Under-13 Inter Community title, last Sunday afternoon at the Victoria Park,{{more}} is viewing this title as “the icing on the cake”.

Referring to his years of grooming the players, Hendrickson told SEARCHLIGHT last Sunday: “I had these players since they were six and seven years old, and it was a tournament that I was praying for all the time.”

Hendrickson said that long before the realization of the competition, he took the players to several parts of St Vincent and the Grenadines to engage other teams in friendly matches.

Playing unbeaten throughout the competition, Hendrickson thought that his players had the advantage of knowing their opponents’ skill level, hence they were able to overcome them.

“What we did was to just put together what we learned from the other teams and put it into practice,” Hendrickson said.

Hendrickson said he seeks to develop the entire being of his charges.

“We train three times per week, because I told them that education and Football, they go together with their education coming in front. We mix the spiritual, the education and the physical,” Hendrickson related.

The bulk of the players on the Layou team come from the Layou Government School, and with most of the players residing in Layou, Hendrickson said it makes it easier for them to assemble regularly.

Still on a high from his success, Hendrickson said that with his current crop moving on to a higher age group, come August, he will begin the recruitment process of another set of players to maintain his Under-13 stock.

Hendrickson said his role is to provide the feeder for senior Layou teams, a role which he enjoys and will not trade for any other.

Layou, buoyed by a lot of vocal support from members of their community, who followed them to the Victoria Park, recorded a 2-0 win over Central Kingstown.

Layou’s two goals came from Joel Quashie, who netted in the 15th and 58th minutes.

For winning the Under-13 title, Layou, apart from receiving the championship trophy, awaits a quantity of school supplies in time for the new school year, which begins in September.

Similar prizes will be given to second placed Central Kingstown and third placed outfit, East Kingstown. (RT)