Basseterre, St. Kitts, September 17, 2022 (SKNFA) — The Young Sugar Boyz returned to the Federation recently after participating in the U17 Concacaf Championship Qualifier in the Dominican Republic. The boys were greeted by enthusiastic parents and teachers, including parents and well-wishers from the Cayon High School, who were there to cheer on players who attend that school. Also, on hand to welcome back the players were Second Vice President of the SKNFA Cuthbert Caines who was deputizing for President Atiba Harris who is currently off island and General Secretary of the SKNFA Techell McClean. Mr. Caines thanked the support staff and players for representing the country well at the tournament. “We want to commend the technical staff and the players for a great tournament. We always want to let our players know that the SKNFA is always supportive of them,” Caines said shortly after their arrival.
Coach Alexis Morris highly praised all those responsible for making the U-17 campaign a success. He praised the parents of the players and Cayon High School for coming out to support them on their return. He thanked the SKNFA for entrusting him with the responsibility for coaching the plyers and leading them to the Dominican Republic. “To me, it was a great experience and we look forward to bigger and better things to come,” he said.
Meanwhile, Jahmal Lewis, a player with the team from Nevis, spoke of the experience of the players participating in the tournament. “We didn’t qualify but that’s all part of life. You win some, you lose some, but hopefully we will do better next time,” he said. “Not qualifying will help us to be stronger and to know what to do next time,” he concluded.
St. Kitts and Nevis narrowly missed out on a place in the 2023 U-17 Concacaf U-17 Championship, losing only one of the three matches in the qualification competition last week.