PENTECOSTAL Light and Life will be hoping to make history tomorrow when they take on Longdenville Government in the girls’ final of the Atlantic National Primary Schools’ final at the Dwight Yorke Stadium in Tobago. Kick-off time is 11am.
Pentecostal are competing in the tournament for just the second year, but are on the cusp of achieving what they had not imagined.
Speaking with Newsday yesterday, their coach Ramnarine Bridgemohan, revealed that his team is ready to take on their counterparts from Trinidad.
“We haven’t seen them play, but we’ve been preparing and are ready. We had an intense session today (yesterday) and the girls are all hyped up. In fact, they feel they’ve already won. We’ve done our homework and they know whose voice to listen for,” he declared.
Bridgemohan noted that he has been reviewing footage of his team’s past performances attempting to rectify mistakes before the big final.
“Sometimes we go into a game with uncertainty, but we put God first. We tape most our matches so we analyse footage. Tomorrow (today) there will be no training just viewing some tapes and getting ready psychologically,” he said.
And with the final being held in Tobago, the Pentecostal Light and Life coach feels his team holds a decisive advantage against their opponent.
“Definitely (it is a plus), we’ve won all our games on that Dwight Yorke field. The whole school will be shut down and cheering for us,” he declared.
He was full of praise for their goalkeeper, Shevon Persaud, who has been in inspired form for them between the uprights.
“Our strength is our goalkeeper. Our philosophy is that if you can’t score (on us) you can’t win,” he explained.
The coach from the sister isle pointed out thought that his team has already had an exceptional season by reaching so deep into the tournament.
“We’re a school that is not really recognised. At Pentecostal Light and Life, we have a Primary School, High School and Kindergarten, but most people just know the High School.
It’s only our second year in the competition, but look where we’ve reached. We train four times a week and it has paid off. After we played Montgomery Government in our first match and drew, that gave us belief because Montgomery humiliated us last year and made our girls cry,” he revealed.
Asked how difficult it was to convince parents and guardians of his team members to allow the girls to play, the coach revealed that it was not much of a problem.
“I joined the staff about two years ago and what we try to do is hold most of our training sessions during school hours. We train at lunch time and on Saturdays we get most of our players coming out too,” he concluded.