Host team Ballaz Academy showed very little hospitality to their visitors, winning four of the six age group competitions at the second instalment of the Kick 4 Ur Heart football competition as the youth tournament season continued over the weekend at the Liberty Park field.

Founding director at Ballaz Academy Andre Virtue was satisfied with the competition, which was executed alongside the LTB Group with major sponsorship from JN Bank and Stewart’s Automotive, and believes the increasingly busy youth football calendar will augur well for the development of the sport at this level.

He, however, noted that more support is needed for age-group football across the country.

“Actually being able to execute the competition with 48 teams across six age groups, I think, is pretty huge and I’m pretty impressed with the amount of teams that competed and the talent that was displayed. The partnerships between the clubs and academies, the support from our sponsors, overall, it was very successful and I’m happy for this second staging,” said Virtue.

“It’s an investment and I think it’s what we need to be doing so yes, KSAFA is doing it [staging a lot of youth competitions], obviously other parishes will have to do it for us to see the real national benefit, but here’s the reason why we need to start young. The players get exposure by playing in different environments, different settings against different types of opponents under different conditions. If you only depend on our school system, which is only two months, then what happens?

“So if you have these tournaments being done, some of them are going to be on better fields, some of them are going to be better organised but all of those are teachable moments and I think we as coaches, we have the opportunity to make sure that they understand that this is a teachable moment and that they are going to face these situations in life,” Virtue added.

Kick 4 Ur Heart was first staged in 2022 to help raise funds towards the medical expenses of a Ballaz Academy coach who had suffered a heart attack, and this year’s tournament will assist in funding the purchase of a defibrillator for the academy.

Ballaz Academy certainly made the most of their home-field advantage, after ensuring that the Under-7, Under-8, Under-10, and Under-11 trophies remain in their possession.

Total Football Academy took top honours in the Under-9 category while Norbrook Strikers were victorious in the Under-12 age group.

In the Under-7 category, Ballaz defeated Benders 2-0 in the final after enjoying an unbeaten run to the trophy round without conceding a goal.

Ballaz’s Ryder Barnes was named MVP with Maximillian Hudson (Ballaz) scoring the most goals and Ishmael Walters (Benders) taking home the best goalkeeper award.

The hosts were also successful in the Under-8 category, brushing aside Norbrook Strikers 5-1 in the final. The academy swept the individual awards as Nugent Walker was the leading goal scorer, Damarli Nelson the top goalkeeper and Onardo Clarke, the MVP.

However, it was Total Football Academy that claimed victory in the Under-9 final, clipping Ballaz Academy 3-1 on penalties after both teams had played out an exciting 1-1 scoreline in regulation time.

TFA players Devoron Dixon (leading goal scorer), Amauri Christie (top goalkeeper) and Lebron Durrant (MVP) took all three individual awards.

Ballaz waltzed their way to the Under-10 final, winning all their matches and scoring 32 unanswered goals in their five previous matches before being held 1-1 by Norbrook Strikers in the finale. They, however, held their nerves to come out 3-2 winners on penalties.

Norbrook’s Dan Quan Palmer was the leading goalscorer in the age group, while the Ballaz pair of Nariek Adamson and Makiri D’Aguillar won the top goalkeeper and MVP awards, respectively.

Ballaz enjoyed another penalty shootout win in the Under-11 age group, edging Emmanuel Christian Academy 2-1 on penalties after a fiery 1-1 scoreline in regulation time. Jahiel Johnson (Norbrook) was the leading goalscorer while Jahbari Williams (Ballaz) was named best goalkeeper and MVP for the category.

The Under-12 final saw Norbrook Strikers defeat Dare to Dream Sporting Academy 5-3 on penalties after neither team was able to break the deadlock in regulation time. TFA’s Matthew Mothersill was the top goal scorer in the category. The Norbrook Strikers duo of Nathaniel Gayle (top goalkeeper) and Ramesh Simms (MVP) won the other two awards.

Teams will now turn their attention to the Genesis Cup tournament at Kirkvine Sports Complex in Manchester on May 20 and 21.