A representative team comprising various players from a few Premier Division football clubs across the island will travel to St. Lucia this weekend. While in St. Lucia, the team will participate in an under 19 football tournament. The tournament, which is being organized by the Freekick Foundation is dubbed the Free Kick Youth Cup and will provide the opportunity for the players to impress scouts from United States colleges and universities.
Following a three months training at the Newtown Savannah, under the supervision of Promex Harlem United coaching staff, the following players got the nod from the selectors to make the July 26th– to August 1st trip.
The players are Yvesterson Exavier, Merrick James, Jardel Xavier, Davidson Baptiste, Shaell Mendes, Clerick Anthony, Dwayne Etienne, Jahleel Daniels, Nahiem Andrew (Promex Harlem United) Mosiah Bonney, and Michael Alleyne (Tranquility Resorts Middle Ham United FC) Marcus Bredas and Donte Warrington (Petro Caribe Pointe Michel FC), Ethan Nichols and Jason Joseph (Connect 767 East Central FC) and Jervon Burton (Bath Estate FC). The unit will be coached by Don Leogal who will also serve as the manager. Kamali Warner will travel with the team in the capacity of medics and assistant coach. Courtney Challenger is the goalkeeper coach and Julius Gage will serve as the equipment manager. Sheldon Casimir is the media personnel.
The Promex Harlem United was charged with the responsibility of preparing the players for the tournament which will attract representative teams from a number of Caribbean countries including Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, USA, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent, and the Grenadines, just to name a few.
The youth tourney will take place at the Darren Sammy Cricket Stadium in Beausejour. The Freekick Foundation is a United States-based charity organization founded by St. Lucian Aaron King.
The foundation is not new to Dominica. Over the years, the foundation has partnered with various stakeholders in Dominica to include the Dominica Football Association, the Government of Dominica, and Harlem United. Through their combined efforts, promising young players have found places at colleges and universities in the USA. Some of these individuals, namely Gylles Mitchel, Andrez Joseph, and Romelcia Phillip, have all gone on to earn Bachelor’s degrees in various fields. In 2019 Gylles Mitchel became the first Free Kick Foundation graduate in the history of the foundation.