Former Liverpool & Wigan Keeper Chris Kirkland coming for 45 Charity Cup & Youth CampCourtesy Can Bou Play MediaFormer English Premier League Goalkeeper Chris Kirkland will be in Trinidad as the feature player for the Creamery Novelties Forty5 Charity Cup on 15 December 2019 and will also host a goalkeeper training camp from the 16 to 18 December 2019.
<![CDATA[<a href="https://www.youtube.com/v/fsGBFs07Uos" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">https://www.youtube.com/v/fsGBFs07Uos</a>]]> The 38 year old Kirkland excelled between the sticks for England, Liverpool, Wigan Athletic, Sheffield Wednesday and Coventry City in an 18 year career at the highest level.
The Creamery Novelties Forty5 Charity Cup will be a star-studded three team tournament, with each match lasting 45 minutes. Can Bou Play Founder Yohance Marshall will take the reins of host team Can Bou Play United while former T&T National Senior Team and current Halifax Wanderers assistant coach Derek King will take command of the T&T Stars outfit.
Deportivo Point Fortin will be the final team in the Cup and will be led by former T&T captain Reynold Carrington.
Can Bou Play Foundation CEO Amiel Mohammed is elated to make the Kirkland announcement after months of hard work to put everything in place.
“Chris [Kirkland] is a monumental piece of the puzzle that we have been developing since Can Bou Play has started,” said Mohammed. “He runs his own goalkeeping academy and is a mental health advocate and given that we recently launched our own Sport In Mind – Mental Health Program, he was the absolute perfect fit to have involved in the Charity Cup and the Goalkeeper Camp.”
Having had his own challenges with mental health towards the latter part of his career, Kirkland has become a very outspoken advocate for mental health awareness and the relevance of it within the sporting landscape. He is also a founder of YAPA – a social network app for mental health.
He has spoken at numerous forums such as the Professional Footballer’s Association Mental Health Conference about the importance of taking care of one’s mental health and it is Can Bou Play’s genuine belief that his experience in mental health advocacy will add a unique and previously undervalued element to the young goalkeeper camp attendees.
The Goalkeeper Camp will also be headlined by an amazing list of former and current T&T National Team goalkeepers such as Jan-Michael Williams, Kimika Forbes, Clayton Ince and Javon Sample.
The venues for the Charity Cup and Goalkeeper Camp and ticket outlets for the Cup will be announced this week. Roster announcements for all teams will be done daily through Can Bou Play’s social media leading up to the tournament.
Proceeds from the Creamery Novelties Forty5 Charity Cup will serve as income generation for Can Bou Play to operate its social programs in 2020 such as Sport In Mind, Mission Inclusion visits at schools for the differently-abled children and mentorship seminars in communities as well as provide Christmas treats for the underprivileged.
Registration for the Camp, for young goalkeepers aged 8 to 18 years, is priced at $680 and can be done at
www.canbouplayfoundation.com.
