FORMER Presentation College and Trinidad and Tobago youth team player Anthony Sherwood has returned to Trinidad and Tobago to launch an elite football academy based in Gulf View, La Romain. The Academy will begin on February 1.
Sherwood has represented Trinidad and Tobago at every age group, beginning with the national Under-14 team. He was a member of the first team in Trinidad and Tobago’s history to qualify for an Under-20 World Cup in Portugal in 1991 — a team that included captain Dwight Yorke, Angus Eve, Clayton Ince, Jerren Nixon and Michael McCommie.
For the past 15 years, Sherwood has been based in the United States where he attended Virginia Commonwealth University on a full athletic scholarship and obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Business.
He became an elite youth football coach with the Richmond Strikers, a Nike Premier youth soccer club which is affiliated with Arsenal FC.
His former players have represented some of the biggest universities in the United States, including the University of Virginia, UNC Chapel Hill, Brown University, Princeton University and Virginia Commonwealth University.
His players have also represented various youth US national teams and a number of them are currently playing in the MLS. One player in particular, Brian Ownby, represented the United States Under-20 team against hosts Trinidad and Tobago in a CONCACAF World Cup qualifying tournament.
Sherwood stated, “I had very mixed feelings at the time when Brian mentioned to me that he would be playing against Trinidad and Tobago. As a player who started with me when he was just eight years old, it was always my goal to get him to the US team.
“However, I never envisioned that one day he would be part of a team that could possibly deny Trinidad and Tobago the opportunity to qualify for a Youth World Cup. Fortunately, both teams went on to qualify.”
Brian Ownby is currently playing in the MLS as a member of the Houston Dynamo and is a former NCAA Division One National Champion with the University of Virginia.
Concerning the Academy, Sherwood noted, “I am very passionate about developing youth players and it is something that I have done with great success for the past 15 years in the United States.
“I feel very strongly that producing successful footballers is not simply something that is based solely on the work that is done on the training pitch, but is heavily contingent on a coach’s ability to instill in his players excellent principles and values away from the field.
My goal has always been to develop great footballers but I also take tremendous pride in the role I play of helping players become great people.”