The Ballaz Football Academy returned to the island from participating in the Enigma Cup in Weston, Florida, without trophies, but with so much more from the experiences.

Founder of the academy Andre Virtue believes that it was time well spent for all involved as they met the most important objectives that they had set out before they left the island.

“We had some objectives. One objective was to give exposure to the players and give them the experience of being in an environment that is different from theirs,” he explained.

“It was established to ensure that we make them a little bit uncomfortable, not in their natural surroundings. Things that made them think, things that they would have to experience, and then us as coaches and parents, use them as coachable and teachable moments,” he continued.

The former Reggae Boy insists that what the Ballaz Academy is doing goes beyond just teaching children to play the sport of football.

“Our boys have to get these types of experiences, where it makes them have to question and maybe even doubt. The failure, the losing, the highs, and the lows is such an amazing opportunity to teach life and so I constantly say that we are not just coaching the sport, we are coaching a life through the sport and for this particular experience it was one of those.”

The team was up against it from the outset but did as best as they could in the circumstances, Virtue explained.

“We went through a number of challenges, not getting visas for a good number of the players, not being able to carry a second team, having to find some other players to join the programme, and they were younger players. So, of the group of 12 boys, we have six of them who are able to play in the same U-11 age bracket next year. We had three nine-year-old boys, one 8-year-old, and two 10-year-old boys and the rest of them were 11 years old.

“Overall, it was really a blessing to get the opportunity to give these boys the exposure. Digicel, Sagicor, and WIHCON, and the parents made this possible for them. They have life-changing memories that will never ever be forgotten.”

The team played three games under three completely different circumstances forcing the boys to adjust.

“It wasn’t about results, in terms of winning, it was about the life experiences that these boys would have gone through.

“We constantly look at how when you put the players in these kinds of environments that they are not accustomed to, a bigger sized field, the surface, the conditions of the surface, playing at different times throughout the day, travelling, rooming together. All of those things are so measurable, in terms of what we need these youngsters to go through.

“For us as coaches, we are also always learning and so to be placed in these environments, though we have played at the highest level and travelled, we have an idea of what it is, but it’s one thing to say it to the players, it’s another thing for them to experience it, so we created an environment that allowed for that to happen.

“The boys and the parents were able to see what the next level looks like and that was another one of our objectives, to get the parents to have a sense of what it is like to invest and to really gives the boys a chance outside of the Jamaican environment,” he said.

Ballaz were faced with the biggest challenge in their final game against Miramar United who is coached by Jamaican Alvin James, cousin of former Jamaica Football Federation President Tony James, after going down 1-5 to Weston FC and 2-4 to Juventus Academy in their first two encounters.

It was then that they produced their best performance at the tournament against the team that turned out to be the overall winners of the Under-11 category. They held Miramar scoreless for the first half before eventually succumbing to a 4-1 defeat, but the scoreline did not reflect their performance.

“Having lost the first two games, going into the last day, everybody wanted to at least take something. We go in every game to win the game, but we understand the realities. But the challenge with the third game was that we were playing against the fifth-ranked team in Florida, the 47th-ranked team in the country at this age group, and in context that’s huge.”

Such was the performance of the players against the eventual winners that they had even the tournament organisers rooting for them and their head coach in tears.

“The boys played such an amazing game. All the things that we spoke to them about, the mistakes that we made in the first two games. I saw the boys dig in, played with such heart and such fight and I am really, really proud of them.

“I was on the sideline and I was in tears, just seeing a set of boys going through that transformation of having to pick up the pieces of losing and trying to go again. Not giving up, not head down in the ground and really trying their best to go and give all that they could, and they did. They did an amazing thing. I am so proud of what they were able to accomplish.”

This was the second occasion that Ballaz were participating in a tournament in the United States, first doing so in 2019 at the Williamsburg Invitational Tournament in Virginia.

“Overall, it was an amazing experience for me, having a couple years of not being able to travel and take these players. The earlier we can start exposing these players to these types of environments, I think it is better for them, their families, and ultimately, for the sport of football,” Virtue insists.

Ultimately, however, it is about helping the boys to become men through the sport of football that matters most to the Ballaz Academy founder.

“Another day, another game, and another life impacted. Changing the world one goal at a time. We are not just coaching a sport, we are coaching a life through the sport and that life is the most important thing. When all is said and done, it’s the most important thing.”

Not being alone at the tournament provided valuable comfort over what was the Memorial Day weekend in the USA.

“We continue to push, building on different relationships, networking with the Jamaican community in Florida who came and cheered us on. We felt the love, we felt the fact that we were representing, not just our club, we were representing Jamaica,” Virtue concluded.

The Ballaz Academy will be heading to Spain later this month to participate in the Costa Blanca Cup.