Windsor Park Sports Stadium, Roseau, Dominica –April 10, 2017 – Twenty-eight (28) up and coming youth footballers between the ages of 13 and 16 had their skills put to the test over the weekend at the Flow Ultimate Football Experience, a competition put together by Flow and Manchester United Football Club and supported by the Caribbean Football Union (CFU). The boys and girls vied for the chance to participate in a talent development football camp in Trinidad and possibly win a trip to Old Trafford, Manchester to visit the facility and see Manchester United play. In the end, it was 16- year-old Jomiah Timothy of the Dominica Grammar School (DGS) and 16-year-old Cobin Paul of the Portsmouth Secondary School (PSS), who best demonstrated the abilities needed to compete with 28 other footballers from the other 14 Flow markets around the Caribbean.
Local coaches Egbert Jno Baptiste, Stanton Seraphine, Ellington Sabin, Julian Wade, Joel Hamilton, Dalton Bannis and Nerrisa Williams put the kids through their paces at the Windsor Park Sports Stadium (WPSS) in a series of challenges that tested their dribbling, short passing and control skills. The programme was specially designed for the Flow Ultimate Football Experience by coaches at the Manchester United Soccer School. The talented footballers were chosen by their clubs and/or school coaches through guidance from the local Football Association.
Jomiah Timothy and Cobin Paul, along with their coaches, Glenson Prince and Joel Hamilton, will now advance to a two-day skills session in Trinidad and Tobago to experience one-on-one training with CFU and Manchester United Soccer School Coaches. Both the coach and athletes will participate in a series of drills designed by the coaches, and compete for the trip to the world-famous football stadium to witness Manchester United’s final Premier League game of the season up close and personal. The VIP experience will also include a Manchester United Museum visit and a tour of the stadium.
“It was immensely gratifying to see the number of young footballers who turned out on Saturday for the Ultimate Football Experience preliminary activity” said Jeffrey Baptiste, General Manager of Flow in Dominica. Mr. Baptiste noted that this is an encouraging sign that the future of the sport of football is in capable hands. “Our young people displayed some incredible skills on Saturday and I am confident that this experience provided by Flow and Manchester United has laid a sound foundation for the future of the sport of football in Dominica”, he noted.
Jerome Bardouille, the Technical Director at the Dominica Football Association spearheaded actions on the ground to facilitate the participation of the young footballers. He commended Flow described the Ultimate Football Experience as one which is in line with efforts of the DFA to develop the football skills of the island’s youth.
Both winners are excited to advance to the next round of competition in Trinidad early next month. A Manchester United fan himself, Jomiah Timothy is looking forward to improve his skills and hopefully move on to win the ultimate prize and see his heroes live. For Cobin Paul, it is an experience that he will never forget and is hoping for great things in Trinidad. He too is hopeful of the opportunity to go to Old Trafford.
The Ultimate Football Experience is one of several Manchester United and Flow partnership initiatives. In January, Flow hosted the FA Cup Caribbean Tour which gave football fans up-close and unprecedented access to football’s most coveted trophy. The final leg of the tour culminated in Cayman, where Manchester United ambassador Dwight Yorke made an appearance.
In addition to Dominica, The Flow Ultimate Football Experience has taken place in BVI, Curacao, Montserrat, Trinidad, Grenada, Cayman, Jamaica, Antigua. Anguilla, St. Lucia and St. Kitts. In the coming weeks the other countries that will host are Barbados, St. Vincent and Turks & Caicos.
Cable and Wireless is Manchester United’s telecommunications partner in the Caribbean.
Disclaimer: The comments posted do not necessarily reflect the views of DominicaNewsOnline.com and its parent company or any individual staff member. All comments are posted subject to approval by DominicaNewsOnline.com. We never censor based on political or ideological points of view, but we do try to maintain a sensible balance between free speech and responsible moderating.
We will delete comments that:
See our full comment/user policy/agreement.