National female footballer giving back

Relatively young in national football representation and still with many years to offer as a player, Shadel Cyrus is already giving back to the sport which has helped her.

A one-week youth football competition, which culminated at the Campden Park Playing Field last Saturday, was the beginning of what Cyrus envisages will be an annual affair.{{more}}

Cyrus, who is back home on vacation after completing her first year at the Ranger College in Texas, where she is majoring in Psychology, said that the main aim of the competition is to give the youngsters more playing time.

“It is really so that the youths could get more games; the more games you play is the more developed you get. From my experience out there in the United States, the more games that these kids get, the better they get… With these kids playing these amounts of games in five days, it’s really a good thing for them… It will help them to develop both mentally in more games and also develop more,” Cyrus said.

Relating her personal experience, Cyrus noted: “When I left to go to Ranger in August 2015, I was really not fully prepared, both physically and mentally… We were playing like five games in six days… We have never done that here and it was the first semester especially, sessions were most of a mental something… You had to really push yourself.”

Commenting on the outcome of her first efforts, Cyrus said, “It was really a success, from the feedback from everyone… The coaches, they are really looking forward to next year… This is something that the kids really wanted; it would help to keep them out of trouble, especially now that school is out… They would just be on the street if most of them not working… It is really something that was good for them this year and they (are) really looking forward for next year.”

Cyrus revealed that Taiwo International of the USA was the main sponsor of the competition, providing logistical and material support, among other inputs.

Six teams competed in the U-10, with another six listed in the U-13, while there eight teams contested both the U-15 and U-17 divisions.

The U-10 was won by Chelsea, with Adare second. Adare took the U-13 ahead of Volcanoes.

Layou bossed the U-15 and U-17 categories, in both instances over Adare.(RT)