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.

It has been announced that the Copa Riviera International Tournament will be held in Barbados in 2011. The International renoun tournament will be held in conjuction with Kickstart FC and UK Partners Tournament Events & Arena Management - T.E.A.M. Teams from Europe, America, South America and Barbados will compete in at least four different age groups, holding the Tournament is a coup for both Kickstart FC and Barbados.

"This is a fantastic opportunity to show off Barbados and the talent in local teams," Commented Dave Porter of Kickstart, "Hopefully this will lead to a International Tournament being held here every other year. It will also bring revenue to local clubs and Barbados."

It is hoped that Kickstart will be able to send two teams over to the Tournament in July 2010 to be held in Paignton, Devon, UK if sponsorship can be found to showcase the talent of Kickstart and Barbados. More details as they are agreed will appear on the website.

The boys went to Stoke Gabriel for the day and joined up with TEAM Football in the Community Coach Kev Wills and the

Stoke Gabriel team before their home game against Exeter University. The boys went into the dressing room with the team before the game as part of the squad, went out with the team and took part in the warm up before the game and sat in the dug out for most of the first half, then went in for the half time team talk to see how an English team prepares for games Both Manager Pete Gartree and Kev Wills were impressed with the boys attitude and effort they put into the time with the team. It gave the boys including coach Tony an insight into the way English clubs prepare for League games, despite all the rain the pitch was in great condition and the boys enjoyed training on such a good surface.

Tony, Raheim, Elsid & Antone are doing the pratical side of their FA Level One Coaching course tomorrow (Sunday) in preperation for the final exam next week.

Below are some pictures of the boys training with Exter City on Friday and at Stoke Gabriel on Sunday. More photo`s in the Gallery Section of the web site.

Training at Exeter City Training at Exeter City with the coach looking on.

Raheim warming up with Stoke Gabriel

Speed training with Exeter City