Trinidad And Tobago Stars Chosen For The Digicel Academy

Despite incremental weather, the sixth leg of this year’s Digicel Kick Start Clinics programme went ahead in Port of Spain over the weekend in what was described by Head Coach, John Barnes, as; “a display of some of the best talent to date.”

The chosen three from Trinidad and Tobago, Yafeu Rougier, Taryk Sampson and Anthony Samuel will join their peers from across eight other countries in the Caribbean, Central America and the United States at the week-long Digicel Academy in October this year. The region’s top talent will be put through their paces by coaches from Chelsea FC in Barbados where they will experience what life is like as a professional footballer.

Yafeu Rougier spoke about how it felt to be chosen, saying; “I am very excited and I am very much looking forward to meeting new people and learning from the Chelsea coaches – as well as to traveling to Barbados for the first time. I have been playing football for the past eight years and I now play for the W Connection team in the Youth Trinidad and Tobago Pro League in which I was last year’s top scorer. The Digicel Clinic with John Barnes was a great experience as his first-hand coaching provided me with useful information, explanations and tips on how to better my game. I am looking forward to Barbados as I expect to get even more useful tips on mastering my play.”

England and Liverpool football legend and Kick Start Head Coach, John Barnes, said; “I was really impressed with this year’s display of talent in Trinidad. I was really surprised in fact – it’s been the best so far of this year’s programme. To be clear, the quality is always high here, but this year I found the quantity of excellent players has increased and I could easily have chosen 12 or 13 boys – which is fantastic and speaks to the ongoing development of football in the country. I was so impressed that I have recommended a number of names to a US scout working here on the ground as potential drafts to soccer scholarships.”

The Clinics continue through to St. Lucia, St. Kitts and Nevis before coming to a finish this weekend in Jamaica as John Barnes searches for the region’s top footballing talent.