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The Blue Mahoe Capital-sponsored Reinas Shield Under-17 girls football competition will return for its fourth staging today at Merl Grove High School, boasting an all-new format due to complications caused by Hurricane Melissa.
Neo Oxford, founder of Reinas Academy and Reinas Shield, said following the impact of Hurricane Melissa, the decision was made to change the competition’s format.
The tournament, rather than being its usual week-long affair with a group stage and then a knockout round, will instead use a one-day round-robin format.
The change to the format has also seen a reduction in teams, as Oxford explained the accommodate the reduced time, this year will see only five teams competing, instead of the usual 10.
These five teams include three-time defending champions Reinas Academy, Merl Grove High, Proven Academy, Football is Freedom and Eltham High School.
“It’s normally a one-week-long event, but due to circumstances with Hurricane Melissa, it will be a one-day event this year,” Oxford said.
“Normally we have 10 teams, but we had to cut it down this year because it is one day. It won’t have the normal final and semi-finals because it will be a round-robin format,” he continued.
DEVELOPMENT
Oxford said the tournament stand as one of the premier girls youth development competition in Jamaica, and is particularly aimed at developing younger players in schoolgirls football.
He explained with the competition being held two months before the start of schoolgirls football, it is often used by coaches to assess their younger players during the pre-season.
With this in mind, games are played in 9v9 formats on smaller fields, allowing coaches to further assess their players in more compact and intense environments.
“It’s a development tournament that was really brought in to give coaches a chance to look at where their players are as they look towards schoolgirl football,” he explained.
“We’re looking at development and as you know, schoolgirl football is under-19 and many teams have younger girls who they want a chance to look at them before the start of that season,” Oxford continued.
“So it’s a 9v9 on a smaller field, the girls will touch the ball more and since it’s really about development, we want to really get the girls involved. It lets the coaches know what had happened since the pre-season started, who are the girls learning and what needs to be worked on.”
The competition will kick off at 8 a.m. and is expected to run through the day and play its final fixture at 3:30 p.m.
English (US) ·