Trench Town turns to football to keep youths out of gangs, crime
Published:Thursday | January 6, 2022 | 12:08 AMChristopher Serju/Senior Gleaner Writer
“It hurts a lot.”
That was the painful admission from 18-year-old footballer Giovonni Morgan when asked about the impact of seeing so many of his friends killed or injured over the years in gang violence in the southern St Andrew community of Trench Town.
“In my community, most of the youth them who gone, them never get fi live nuh life,” he told The Gleaner on Saturday while warming up for Fourth Street’s game against Dream Team from Third Street.
Fourth Street won 3-0 to take the $10,000 third-place prize.
The feature game between Columbus Road and Buckas ended in a one-all stalemate, and neither of the teams was able to break the deadlock after penalties. With the game going into the night, they shared the $130,000 prize money.
Eleventh-grader Morgan, who captains the Camperdown High School football team, wants to see a cessation of the violence that has claimed many young lives and is convinced that the initiatives being funded by charity Kino Life in Jamaica (Dream Team), with the assistance of Jermaine James, is a major step in the right direction.
He wants residents to allow for social-intervention investments to take root and bear fruit.
“We have to keep focused on what we want to accomplish,” said Morgan, who has dreams of becoming a professional footballer.
International football
Already honing his skills with Jamaica Premier League team Cavalier, the teenager has his sights set on playing international football.
Kino Life in Jamaica is empowering residents of Trench Town to bring back peace to the community, with the hope that lasting love and unity will be a natural spin-off.
“It would inspire more youth to choose the road weh me choose. An’ if me can buss out and get the opportunity fi play international ball like Shamar Nicholson, that will inspire more younger generations fi just take the baton from us,” Morgan told The Gleaner.
National striker Nicholson, who played for Boys’ Town before being recruited by Belgian club RSC Charleroi, has been an inspiration for other aspiring footballers from Trench Town. Nicholson now suits up for Spartak Moscow in Russia.
James is point man on the project under which Kino for Life has contributed to the installation of underground sprinklers at the Vin Lawrence Park, which now has perimeter fencing. Community folk helped grass the upgraded field.
Now the aim is to use the love of football as an incentive for school-age area youth to focus more on their lessons, learn about football history, and to be engaged in playing the game. The ultimate aim is to snare contracts on the international stage.
Achieving that goal, said James, will require a sound education with a global perspective on football and understanding the value of nutrition to physical development.
“The difference haffi make because the cycle of violence is too much. January 5th me a 40 years old, and from mi a 14, mi father dead and deh yah and go through nuff war and still have the hope that the cloud of negativity over the place can be lifted,” he told The Gleaner.
The plan is for boys to spend time at the library reading, doing mathematics, English, and other subjects for about two or three hours before transitioning to intensive football training and then being served a warm meal before seeking relaxation while watching football.
James is convinced that spending those additional hours after school in a structured development programme will benefit the residents as well as the entire Trench Town community.