BALLAZ Academy’s Under-11 team was the pick of the bunch at the marquee USA Cup Week tournament, creating history by becoming the first Jamaican team to win top honours at North America’s largest youth football competition.

The team defeated Illinois-based Jahbat SC 5-3 in an exciting final in Bracket A of the Gold Category — the highest level of competition — to crown themselves the pick of the 21 Jamaican teams that took part in the tournament which unfolded at the National Sports Centre in Blaine, Minnesota.

Andre Virtue, director and founder of Ballaz Academy, was pleased with his teams’ performances and the level of exposure and development achieved over the 10 days of competition.

“This was a great experience for Ballaz Academy. Having made the decision to take our Under-11 and Under-13 teams, the goal and objective were really to put our players in the top bracket — which is the Gold level ‘A Bracket’ — and the significance of this for us is that our players are only going to grow in uncomfortable situations where they are being challenged to come out of their comfort zone, being challenged to have to dig a little deeper than they have done before. And so, both teams were placed in that category to be able to be challenged [by] playing against better opposition, better players, who are better coached,” said Virtue.

He noted that the players were taken through several mental conditioning sessions where teamwork, perseverance and focus were stressed.

“They responded; the U-11 team responded excellently,” Virtue said. “When you look at who their opposition was in the semis, and how we had to adapt to that, and who the opposition was in the final, both were quality teams that we played against that, at moments, were playing some football that was like, ‘Wow, this team can play’ … and to see the U-11 team go down three times and come back three times, get the go-ahead goal, and then to separate themselves, was a real class act. It was one of those games where you saw the character of the players forming and coming out — and as a coach you can’t ask for anything more than that.

“The whole USA Cup was a great experience for our chaperones, our management, our coaching staff, parents and the players, and I think we will put it down to something that Director of Football Paul Alexander and myself have really been pushing for recently: really creating this environment where it’s transformational coaching. It’s not just about the technical aspects of the game, but it’s how we address the mental aspect, how to address the character and leadership components of the players for them to have a belief and freedom to play,” Virtue said.

The Ballaz U-11 team also made it to the final of the warm-up USA Cup Weekend tournament, losing to top-ranked team Los Amigos 5-2 before rallying in the USA Cup Week main event.

The Ballaz U-13 team, which also competed in the Gold Bracket A category, made it to the quarter-finals of the competition, suffering a close 1-0 defeat to the eventual champions.

No other Jamaican team was able to win a title in the Gold Category A Bracket but Norbook Strikers did taste some success as the only other team to win any final, with their Under-14s defeating Lakes United 4-1 in Bracket A of the third-tier Bronze Category.

In the Gold Category B Bracket, which is contested by teams that finished third and fourth in their respective groups, the Norbrook Strikers Under-10 and Under-12 teams went to the finals and won over Maplebrook SC (11-4) and Esporte Club Pinheiros (3-2), to walk away with consolation honours. The academy’s Under-11 team lost in the Bracket B semi-finals after finishing at the bottom of their group.

“It is a valuable experience for both players and coaches to attend these types of tournaments, to see where they are in their development and to also make linkages with other cultures,” said Richard West, head of Norbrook Strikers FC.

Kingston Football Academy (KFA) travelled to Minnesota with the largest contingent – seven teams — with their Under-17 Gold Category team going all the way to the Bracket A final during which they lost 4-0 to FC Toronto.

The other KFA team that competed in the Gold Category was the U-12 boys who finished second in their zone before losing in the A Bracket quarter-finals. Their Silver Category teams in the U-12, U-14, U-15 and U-16 age groups all made it through the group stage in the A Bracket but fell at different stages in the knockout rounds, while the U-14 Bronze Category team ended the group stage in last place.

Manchester High School’s U-19s was the only other Jamaican team competing in the Gold Category. They finished second in their group before losing in the quarter-final.

Excelsior’s U-17 (Silver Category) topped their zone and defeated Barca Academy Chicago 4-1 in the Bracket A final, while Charlton’s Academy’s Silver Category U-12 lost in their Bracket B quarter-final. They went to the Silver Category Bracket A final at the U-19 level but lost 4-3 to Winona Euro FC Flamengo.

Bender’s U-12 Bronze Category team won their Bracket A final 9-0 while Genesis Academy’s U-14 (Bronze) and U-12 (Silver) both lost in the knockout stages while their Mixed U-16 team, competing in the Silver Category, topped their zone but lost 2-0 in the semi-finals in Bracket A.

Over 1,200 teams from 17 countries competed in the competition.