BELIZE CITY, Mon. Dec. 21, 2020– Good afternoon, Football Family!

The year 2020 was unexpected, and all our goals and plans had to be put on pause due to Covid-19. Football being a contact sport, our whole football calendar of games, marathons, tournaments and summer camps had to be cancelled.

Football is an extracurricular activity that many youths, especially my City Boys players, look forward to playing every day. Football has many positive benefits to our boys; it keeps them fit, physically active, it fosters teamwork and discipline.

The restrictions of the SI on sports made it hard to keep our players together, focused and motivated. There were no team meetings or workouts, which gave me the chance to mentor them on a daily basis.

Everybody got affected. I felt that I had to do something special for my City Boys players for Christmas because, like so many children, a lot of them will not be getting any gifts for Christmas.

So we decided to put together a Christmas bag of goodies and essentials for 20 of our City Boys players from the ages of 8-17 years old coming from the Yabra, Tut Bay and Kraal Road areas. The bags included a variety of goodies and essentials such as: toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant, hand sanitizer, face mask, Ovaltine, Dutch Lady Milk, chocolate, aple, 2lbs rice and 2lbs beans.

Delivering the Christmas Bags, I was super-excited seeing the boys. It gave me a chance to talk about school and distance learning, life skills and Covid safety protocols. While football is our main focus, myself, Allie (Albert Thurton) and Peal Off (Jerome Maheia), we not only teach them about the game of football, but also help in grooming them to be men and productive citizens.

I would like to say thanks to my sponsors and supporters: Mrs. Aisha Rudon and San Cas, Mr. Tyrone Cutkelvin, Mr. Michael Meighan, Mr. Shane Williams, Mr. Jeffery Locke, Mr. Kenton Thompson and Mr. Dorian Avilez.

I would like to say thanks to my sponsors and supporters: Mrs. Aisha Rudon and San Cas, Mr. Tyrone Cutkelvin, Mr. Michael Meighan, Mr. Shane Williams, Mr. Jeffery Locke, Mr. Kenton Thompson, Mr. Dorian Avilez, Mr. Cutkelvin and B.E.E.F. (Belize Education Empowerment Foundatiion).

(AMANDALA Sports Ed. Note: A good initiative, indeed! Congratulations to City Boys management team! For sure, Early B would have been right there with you. His spirit still is. A happy, blessed and safe Christmas to all of you, and to the children everywhere! At the least, our little ones deserve some peace in the Jewel.)