Year 10 footballers at the ‘Cut It Out’ Tournament
On Monday, 12th June, our Year 10 football team represented St Mary’s at the annual ‘Cut It Out’ football tournament, held at Selhurst Park. The ‘Cut It Out’ tournament, hosted by the Palace for Life Foundation, is one of a wide range of community activities which aim to raise awareness of youth violence in south London, and to eliminate the scourge of knife crime.
The seven-a side tournament, held on the hallowed turf of Crystal Palace Football Club, was between eight local youth organisations and school teams in two mini-leagues, with the top two teams progressing to the final.
Of the six games played, our students drew three and lost three – with all the losses being only by a single goal. Our students’ final game was with the tournament’s eventual winners and ended nil-nil.
Mr Kelly, who coaches the team, reports that the Year 10 footballers were fantastic ambassadors for our school both on and off the pitch. “They really demonstrated our school’s core values, with the boy’s behaviour, motivation and performance being all excellent. While the results didn’t go our way, it is worth remembering that they were often playing against older boys, and our team have had only limited opportunity to play together as a team in competitive games.”
Playing on a Premiere League pitch, and under floodlights, was a memorable experience for our students. In addition, it was pleasing to see lots of support for our team at the event from their parents and other students at the school, as well as Mr Shields, our Headteacher, who gave an inspirational post-match team talk, congratulating the boys on their efforts.
Well done to the following Year 10 students:
Vitor R-S (Capt.), Juan O-S., Emmanuel D., Eugene K A., Caleb R., Abdul I., Jeremiah D., Jaazaniah D., Oscar F., Isaac A..
