Tue | Mar 19, 2024

KSAFA promises tech-driven youth tournament

Published:Monday | November 23, 2020 | 12:13 AM
Cavalier’s Javon Smith (second left) skips past Santos defender Jean-Marc Gayle (left) and drives forward in the Kingston and St Andrew Football Association Under 15 Championship finals at the Alpha Boys Field on Thursday, August 30, 2018.
Cavalier’s Javon Smith (second left) skips past Santos defender Jean-Marc Gayle (left) and drives forward in the Kingston and St Andrew Football Association Under 15 Championship finals at the Alpha Boys Field on Thursday, August 30, 2018.
DILLON
DILLON
1
2

General Secretary Dwayne Dillon says the Kingston and St Andrew Football Association (KSAFA), in collaboration with an international partner, will host a brand-new youth competition for its clubs next year.

Dillon says the tournament, which will be separate from KSAFA’s regular youth competitions, will be staged at a centralised venue, and he says it will be technology driven.

“There are some competitions that we are planning next year Under-11, Under-13, Under-15, and Under-17, and we are planning a number of things for this league, which will be heavily technology-driven,” Dillon said.

“We will be utilising the technology that is standard to professional teams abroad. There will be statistics on everything. We will have cameras that can give updates, how many passes, how many dribbles, and such.

“All those stats will be provided for all of the teams because the matches will be properly covered with cameras, and they will get results electronically.”

KSAFA is targeting the UWI-JFF Horace Burrell Centre of Excellence as the centralised venue for the competitions. However, teams will be required to pay an entrance fee, which will go towards providing gear for games.

The competitions will be played over a six-month period on Saturdays. However, KSAFA will only facilitate the tournaments as the association’s overseas partner will be the ones organising and running the event.

“Although it is a KSAFA competition, we have some partners from overseas. They are the ones that will really run the competition. We are just outsourcing it to them. So they will need about two to three months to prepare everything,” Dillon said.

He said that similar to KSAFA’s Under-10 competition, teams and academies outside of the confederation will be invited to compete.

“It is just a whole new-level game, and the response has been phenomenal as most have indicated that they want to participate,” Dillon said. “There are teams out of town and academies that want to participate, and we have nothing against that.

“We will be having a launch soon, and when we have the launch, our partners will be there. So what we have to do now is make a little lead time for the partners.”

livingston.scott@gleanerjm.com

livingston.scott@gleanerjm.com