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Morvant Primary School Tournament

Hokett Baptist win Jack Warner KO '07'

Hokiest Baptist Primary school won the Jack Warner KO on penalty kicks after they outlasted League winners Chinapoo Government in the 2007 edition of the Caribbean Stars International Morvant Primary School football tournament in Trinidad.

The competition was very keen as Hokett Baptist regrouped after their third place finish in the league to upset Chinapoo in the last game of the season.

Hokett utilized the much needed 12th man advantage when they brought out some of their classes with a few of the parents to gain the upper hand on Chinapoo in the final of the Jack Warner KO. The tactical maneuver by school Principal Mr. Stanley Mahase, and coach Langley worked well. It helped their team defeat a formidable opponent in Chinapoo Government. In spite of the fact that the games are during the day we are hopeful that the trend of parents and pupils attending the games would continue.

Chinapoo Government win Morvant Primary School football league

 At the end of the season the Morvant Primary school football presentation of Awards was held on Saturday November 17,  at the Russell Latapy Secondary school in Morvant.  As mentioned Chinapoo Government won the league shield after finishing third last year. The school endured some hard times but due to the determination of their  Principal Mrs. Carol Bernard, the team managed to overcome their obstacles in time to  represent the District of Morvant in the Zonal competition in Port of Spain.  Chinapoo Government had a tremendous season, as they lead the Morvant league standing from start to finish. They were aggressive from the start of the games and took care of their opponents in a quick and decisive manner.  Chinapoo's tough team defense was lead by Noel Cummings who captured the Best Defender award as he also managed to push forward to score a goal during the season. 

Chinapoo also lead the league in scoring by a wide margin and their main striker and marksman was Dwayne Calliste, son of their parent-coach. Calliste won the Most goals award with 8 goals.

Lower Morvant Government Primary  was voted the Best Discipline team, based on their punctuality and outstanding sportsmanship in spite of the outcome of their games. Lower Morvant also won the Best Dress team award and was instrumental in making the 2007 Primary school tournament a lot of fun. Lower Morvant team was the sentimental choice of the adults that attended the games as they had the smallest players in the tournament and played every game down to the final whistle.

St Dominic's RC last year's league champion with Principal Ms. Jones-Simon, did not fear as well this year although their team played very consistent. It seemed like their team had trouble in taking their game to the next level compared to their championship year.  Nevertheless St Dominic RC was still good enough to secure second place in the league.

In the individual category, Hoksett Baptist Aaron Enill won the Best Goalkeeper award while his team mate Ezekiel Issac claimed the MVP award.

In picture below are some of the Morvant Primary school All Stars players who were recognized for their exceptional play during the 2007 football season

Stay Tuned for more pictures of the individual winners of the 2007 edition of the Caribbean Stars International Morvant Primary school competition

Caribbean Stars launch Morvant Primary School T&T Int’l Tournament

  (Above) Morvant Primary School tournament Opening Day Kick off by FIFA Vice President Jack A. Warner

St Dominic's RC win Morvant Primary

Caribbean Stars International presentation of the Morvant Primary School Football Competition opened with a March Pass Parade on Saturday September 23, 2006.  The competition was officially launched  with the kick off of the ball by Mr. Jack Warner, FIFA vice president and Chief Advisor to the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation. The tournament closed off with the Jack Warner Knock Out, on Friday October 6, 2006.

The competition was keen from the start and throughout the tournament. It started with a two point winner of the 100 points total for the March Pass and stretched to a winner of the league on the last day of the schedule. and a Knock Out winner on sudden death penalty kicks. The talent level of the players also made the individual awards a difficult task for the officials.

As mentioned it all came down to the last day of the league and St Dominic’s was up against second place New Morvant with a (St Dominic’s) 2 points lead. With three points for a win one could imagine this game was a must win for Morvant New. To add to the excitement the Chinapoo team was present for the game praying for a tie because they were also tied for second place on points but in third on goal difference. However  St Dominic’s opened the scoring and  New Morvant came back and tied the game 1-1 and as a result they were eliminated from league contention.

Chinapoo Government was up next to play Lower Morvant and they had to win by 2 goals clear in the game to win the league. Unfortunately Chinapoo Government lost by a score of 2-0. The game came down to a showcase between the league best defender in Moabba Franklyn and the League’s MVP, Nkosi David.  They face each other on several occasions in the game but for the most part Moabba held his defensive ground. However in sports situation change quickly and after Lower Morvant scored on Chinapoo early, Moabba was asked to support the attack.

In winners circle was Morvant Anglican- March Pass, St Dominic’s RC- League Champions, Morvant New Government- Jack Warner Knock Out, and Hokett Baptist- Best Discipline.  The individual award winners were Andell Andrews -Most Goals from New Morvant Gov’t, Moabba Franklyn (Best Defender) from Chinapoo Gov’t, William Alexander-Best Goalkeeper from New Morvant, and Nkosi David-(Dennis Lawrence) MVP trophy from Lower Morvant.

This strategy backfire on Chinapoo due to the fact that Lower Morvant second goal came as a direct result of that move.  It was Nkosi second attempt at passing defender Moabba and  one can say that he learned fast by his lack of success from trying to dribble Noabba minutes earlier. On his second attempt he moving back in his defensive position in a one and one situation and instead of trying the dribble he wisely decided change speed with a hesitation that was enough to accelerate across Moabba that gave him enough space to shoot around this defender into the net at the last post. That was one of the many classic moves by the young players in the competition.

With Chinapoo losing St Dominic’s RC and their classes marched back to school (200 metres away) singing and rejoicing. They were the Morvant Primary School League champions and as such they will represent Morvant, at the Port of Spain “Zonal” competition.

 In the Knock Out, league favorite New Morvant took matters into their own hands by rebounding from their two second place finishes to captured the Jack Warner KO after defeating Morvant AC (Anglican) in the final on penalty kicks.  

 All Stars players were selected towards the end of the league and the Stars are in training under Coach Anthony "Prowler" Streets for final selection to travel to Canada.  Anthony  is a resident of Morvant and he is also the coach of Superstar Rangers of the T&T Pro League.

At this time Caribbean Stars would like to thank the Ministry of Education, T&T Football Federation, Morvant Constituency Office, Principals, Coaches, Parents, Referees, Supporters and most of all the players for making the event a success.

Ian Wharton of New Morvant "Coach of the Year"

Ian Wharton, coach and teacher of the Morvant New primary died on Monday October 23, 2006, after he was struck by lightening while attending to his girl’s teams in rain. Caribbean Stars of Canada worked with Ian Wharton, at the Morvant Primary School  tournament 2006 in Trinidad, and we found him to be a extremely generous and genuine person.

Our last meeting with Ian was on Friday October 6, 2006 at the Morvant Savannah in T&T when he coached his team, Morvant New Government to win the prestigious Jack Warner Knock Out trophy. Although he was unable to attend the presentation of awards that Sunday, his focus, support, and commitment to Morvant New Government Primary school boys and girls football/soccer program was invaluable.  In light of his contributions, Caribbean Stars has taken the opportunity (if permitted) to name the Coach of the Year award in Ian Wharton’s name.

The award would be called the “Ian Wharton Coach of the Year Award” and Ian is the first winner of the award.  Ian improved his team performance from a third place finish in the opening March Pass Parade, to an undefeated second place finish in the league, and clinched the Jack Warner Knock Out to close the 2006 season.  For us this personifies his perseverance, commitment, and leadership as a coach Ian Wharton was a positive influence to all with whom he came in contact, and we believe that commemorating the “Coach of the Year Award” in his name will help raise the standard for primary school coaches. He reinforced our belief that a good coach for the most part can have a tremendous influence on the youth Ian Wharton positive attitude was reflected in his team play and his creativity was displayed at the Morvant Primary school games. At the boy’s games it was his custom to allow the girl team players to attend in support of the boy’s team and at the halftime he would allow the girls to conduct the boys huddle                                    

 Ian was also well liked by his fellow coaches and because of this he gained the unanimous vote to allow the members of his girl’s team to participate in the Jack Warner Knock Out.

 He was indeed open to ideas, accommodating and close to his players. He also assisted the Russell Latapy Secondary school girl’s football/soccer team by accepting exhibition games with his girl’s team in order to help the Latapy girl’s team sharpen up for their debut in the Secondary school league competition

 On behalf of Caribbean Stars, Morvant Primary School Principals, and the Coaches we would like to extend our deepest sympathy to Ian Wharton’s family, and everyone affected by his sudden death. 

We pray that in time they will be able to cope with his sudden loss and take comfort that Ian will be remembered when we reflect on the fond memories of the Morvant Primary 2006 football/soccer season.   God Bless!

Event Management : Yvonne Constantine Welch, Victor McGill (T&T), Val Sebro (USA) and Event Coordinator Aldwyn McGill(Canada)

Stars to launch Morvant Int’l Tournament

Caribbean Stars of Toronto Canada has taken the initiative to establish an International Tournament beginning with a pilot project between Malvern Youth Club of Toronto, Canada, and the Primary Schools of the Morvant Trinidad, West Indies. Members of the organization committee comprise of the principals of the schools (seen above) met last Friday and gave the green light to kick off in September 2006, as planned. The project has been endorsed by the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation and sanctioned by the Trinidad and Tobago Ministry of Sports. The project is intended to spread throughout the entire Caribbean and Canada. Morvant and Malvern have been selected as the pilot due to the negative publicity the districts has received as a result of violent crime reported at the National level. 

Caribbean Stars has been successful in getting the support and blessing of World Cup bound Soca Warrior Dennis Lawrence for the project, and he is looking forward to being of more help when his schedule allows. Dennis lives in Coconut Drive, Morvant and has lived in the district of Morvant for 25 years. He attended Morvant New Government Primary School therefore his interest in the tournament is based on giving back to his roots. In his speech at the Warriors welcome reception at Piarco Airport after the Bahrain victory he was hopeful that the historic event will help Trinidad and Tobago unite and somehow put an end to the gun violence and crime that has taken over the country.  He is happy to be a part of this project and had no objection to his name being used for the MVP trophy he has donated.

The initial stage of the project will be starting with the seven Morvant Primary schools in September and the Tournament will open with a March Pass Parade geared towards brining out the entire district of Morvant.  The seven Primary Schools competing are: Morvant R.C. Morvant Anglican, Chinapoo Government, Lower Morvant Government, Morvant New Government, Maryland RC, and Hokett Baptist.  At the end of the season an All Star team will be selected from the participating schools to travel to Canada in 2007 to compete against Malvern and surrounding Youth Clubs.  

Scarborough National Malvern Soccer Club has offered to support the project and is anxiously awaiting the visiting Morvant All Star team.  North Scarborough Youth Soccer Club is also keen on the idea and is making arrangements for their 2007 scheduling. A meeting of the Operational Committee comprised of the coaches, managers, referee coordinator, local, and international coordinators is scheduled for the first week of May to finalize the rules and schedule of the tournament. For more information email info@caribbeanstars.com 

Parents, get Involved 

In anticipation of the upcoming soccer season, our community teams should be concerned due to the lack of commitment shown by their players last season.  Maybe with the excitement of the World Cup and its momentum carrying through into the season players will commit early and stick it out for the entire season. Some players were moving away from their structured clubs and forming their own teams with little or no leadership. Other players were playing for up to 4 teams which was probably a reflection of the short lived success they had at some of the indoor soccer money tournaments that required a minimum number of players and a maximum of friend picks. Players of today change teams like they changing their underwear. In contrast back in the day, commitment was attributed to payment of a club’s annual membership dues combined with the passion for the game, player pride, and love for club that only injury or unforeseen circumstances could have prevented a player from completing the season. In contrast today teams make unbelievable concessions for players and thus experience their so called super stars transform into super scars.

  Is it possible that the background of most of these non committed players may be traced to parents who enroll their kids in programs and end up too busy to attend their practices, and games? We have seen the entire attitude of kids with lack of parental support changed drastically from keen interested players to confused and troubled youths. In some cases their troubled phase were compounded with acquisition of new friends with questionable interest and ulterior motives. In most cases the troubled kids were the ones with the exceptional talent while the kids with supportive parents but limited skills feared much better in life.

Parents for the upcoming season commit some time to the activities of your child and attend their games because decisions are made by others that may affect your child life. For one it could be your golden opportunity to learn more about your child’s character and their other friends away from school. Stop taking the easy route by arranging to have coaches or other parents pick up and drop your kids off when they have practices or competitive games when you can make it. Go out and support your kids because contrary to what some media will like you to believe, a link to society breakdown has little to do with the areas you live in.  In 2005 the much publicized bad spots in Toronto such as Scarborough produced a National Champion senior team in GS United and 5 marquee players. Dwayne De Rosario, Julian De Guzman and Adrian Serioux were all members of the Canadian Men’s National Soccer team, while Desmond Humphrey and Emil Calixterio were the 2005 MVP’s of the Canadian Professional Soccer League and the Ontario Soccer League respectively. They all lived and developed their skills around the Malvern and North Scarborough Youth Clubs. Their awards were accomplished as a direct result of continued parental support and players committed to a season.

On the International soccer scene Dennis Lawrence of the Trinidad and Tobago World Cup bound Soca Warriors lives in a Coconut Drive in the district of Morvant which is classified as one of the crime infested areas of the country. That did not stop him in his aspirations not did it stop him from scoring the lone goal against Bahrain to send his country to the World Cup.