Bell says festival was a 'huge success'

Jermaine Lannaman, Gleaner Writer

Technical director of the University of the West Indies' (UWI) football programme, Neville Bell, has hailed the recent staging of its second annual football scholarship festival as a huge success.

The three-day event, which was held at the UWI Bowl just over a week ago, saw more than 100 students and 12 overseas coaches and scouts taking part. Bell hopes that like last year when six scholarships were awarded, more players will get scholarships this year.

"I thought it was a huge success - the number of players, overseas coaches, and the performances," said Bell. "I hope that like last year, in the end, a number of them will be able to secure scholarships and get an opportunity to better themselves."

The festival, which primarily featured a number of the top players who participated in this season's ISSA urban-area and rural- area Manning and daCosta Cup competitions, also had players from local colleges and universities in attendance.

Some rural schools which were represented include daCosta Cup champions Rusea's, St Elizabeth Technical High, Manchester and Lennon, while some of the urban players were from Manning, Walker Cup and Olivier Shield champions Jamaica College, St George's College, Wolmer's, and Excelsior.

The overseas coaches and scouts, included representatives from NCAA Division one champions Akron University, Hartford University, Oregon State, University of South Florida, University of Connecticut, St John's University, Mercer University, McKendree University, Lewis University, and Penn State University.

"The coaches and scouts were generally impressed with the level of play they saw," said Bell. "There were quite a number of players who a lot of inquiries were made about, however, when the time is right, the requisite announcements will be made."