KICKSTART FOOTBALL CLUB CLEANS UP SPORTS GROUNDS FOR FUNDRAISER

Kickstart Football Club, promoting football and sport for the youth of Barbados, gave back to the Community on Saturday 22^nd May 2010. The youngsters (pictured) need to raise funds for an upcoming overseas tournament.

There are two (2) teams from Kickstart Football Club which will be going to the UK in July to participate in the Copa Riviera Tournament. At this tournament, there will also be teams participating from Africa, Panama, Mexico, USA, Sweden and Belgium, as well as UK based Academy teams from Chelsea, Derby, Crystal Palace and Reading.

A Canadian business man and returning visitor to the Island, Mr Henry Dunfield (HD Energy) , issued the challenge to Kickstart to help clean up our beautiful island. He donated $1,000.00 on the condition that the children `beautified` Barbados.

The young men spent the morning of the 22^nd May cleaning the football grounds at Blenheim,

St. Michael - a site that they regularly play matches on.

Many family members joined the young boys in collecting three skips (donated by Skip Master), worth of garbage and trash from the grounds. In all, the boys raised in excess of $5,000.00 from this clean up initiative to help towards the costs of travel for the team, to the UK in July.

Great Work Kickstart!!!!

The Coaches at Kickstart are gearing up for the new season which promises to be the best so for for the club. With some good results under their belts from the recent tournaments the coaches and the players are ready for this seasons challenges and cannot wait for it to start!

Further good news has emerged from the club with the agreement to enter two teams in the Copa Riviera International Tournament being held in the UK during July 2010. This has now been confirmed when the club secured most of the sponsorship required to make the trip. "This is a chance for the club and the players to showcase themselves in the UK," Commented Dave Porter, " Playing against such high quality teams from all around the world will help our players and help them mature. The trip is something for all to look forward to at the club, we all need to work hard to secure the last piece of sponsorship to make the trip."

It was also announced this week that Raheim Sargent has been picked for the Barbados under 23 International squad for some games that are coming up. This really starts the new year off for Raheim that is already looking promising with a return to the UK on the cards with further training with Exeter City plus interest from other local UK with invitations to train with them on his return.

Tony, Raheim, Antone and Elsid have arrived home at the end of the two week stay in the UK which ended with all four finishing and passing the final part of their FA level One Coaching Course to become qualified FA coaches. They all completed the course with a high pass mark. In addition to this acheivement, the players were invited back to the UK at the start of next season to train and play in the UK. They will all soon putting their new found skills into practice when they start to take coaching sessions at Kickstart. Tony Hall from Kickstart FC and Derek Spence, Director of T.E.A.M. Management have put together a coaching programme for the club which will be reviewed and developed when T.E.A.M. come to Barbados in February on their next coaching trip. Planning is now being put into place to take other talented players from Kickstart to the UK

Despite the terrible weather in the UK, all four enjoyed the trip and the experiences they had while there, including the Monoply challenge which saw Tony and Raheim as Champs.

Pictures from the trip can be seen under the gallery section of the web site.