M&M Harvard Football team is better prepared going into its second season in the T&TFF National Super League according to team manager Louis Charles.
Speaking at the official launch of the 2005 campaign on Monday evening at the Harvard Sports Club, Serpentine Road, St Clair, Charles said that its administration was not at all happy with the team’s performance in the previous year’s competition.
In the 28 matches contested in the 2004 competition Harvard recorded 10 wins, two draws and 16 losses and finished sixth in the league.
It was therefore decided that preparation would begin earlier than usual and four days into the new year the first screening session was conducted.
In three months 50 players attended the sessions and in March, the team, having been trimmed to 25, training under newly-appointed coach Winston Phillips, who replaced Ken Martin as head coach, began in earnest.
The team has played nine practice matches in the build-up to the Super League, winning six and losing three, two of them to Pro League outfits Vibe CT 105 W Connection and CL Financial San Juan Jabloteh.
With former national player Dean Pacheco at the helm and a potent blend of promising young talent and experience, the team is brimming with confidence and Charles asserts that they are fully prepared for the challenges of the upcoming season.
Harvard president Oliver Camps was full of thanks to M&M for sponsorship of the team and also expressed his confidence in the ability of the club to give a strong showing in the competition.
Managing Director of M&M Insurance Services Limited, Steve Castagne related how the Harvard president courted his company to become part of the family.
Castagne, wearing the team’s official shirt presented to him by Pacheco before his presentation, alluded to the fact that the partnership is the linking of kindred entities and revealed that at the time M&M was looking for an opportunity to become increasingly involved with the youth.
He said that in M&M there are no stars but that all combine their abilities to make their success a true team effort.
The candid Castagne who earlier on in his presentation proudly declared himself a member of the club, poked fun at Harvard’s fall from grace, after winning the first four matches in the 2004 edition of the competition.
He admonished the players to always give their best and if their best did not prove enough to work harder until “your best gets better.”
Castagne assured all the players that they were chosen ones and that they had the support of the people at M&M despite how they should fare in the competition.
In closing Castagne expressed an expectation of the team that they have a stellar season, wished them all the best and thanked Harvard for the opportunity to be associated with the team.
M&M and Harvard are in the second year of a three year sponsorship deal to the tune of $360,000, which covers the team’s participation in the Super League.
The team includes: Pacheco (captain), Ricardo Aleong, Kendall Baptiste, Kelvin Charles, Wade Charles, Cordell Redhead, Damien Fraser, Christon Freitas, Kereme Goddard, Shawn Hinds, Joff Headley, Jerimie Headley, Seon Jack, Devon Jack, Richard Johnson, Darryl Matthews, Ismael Mohammed, Andre Pelletier, Joel Penco, Damien Pompey, Nigel Pompey, Roger Patrick, Kestor Patrick and Arnold Russell.