Tuesday, October 18^th 2011 – St. John’s, Antigua: Javier Piper, Daniel Spronk and Kyii Ireland are the three boys who made the final cut to travel to the kick start academy in Trinidad with Sunderland coaches and football legend John Barnes.                                                                                      

The three boys were selected from 21 children who signed up for the Digicel Kick Start Clinic trials on Sunday 16^th October hosted by Swalings and Digicel held at the West Indies Oil Refinery play field.

The lucky boys will now join the ‘crème de la crème’ of young footballing talent at the Digicel Academy – a week-long elite training camp, under the leadership and guidance of top Barclays Premier League coaches from Sunderland’s “Academy of Light”, Kevin Ball and Carlton Fairweather, and assisted by John Barnes. The squad will travel to Trinidad on November 1^st and return November 7^th accompanied by Coach, William Swatton of Swalings Soccer Academy.

Coach Swatton was part of the four member team who selected the players and said he was not only impressed by the display of skills by the youngsters, but more so the positive attitude and willingness to learn.

Digicel Marketing Manager, Troy Byrne, also commented; “Digicel is committed to developing sports at grassroots level and as such is delighted to giving these three aspiring young footballers this chance of a lifetime. After their training at the kick start academy they should be able to return to their teams and impart the knowledge they’ve learnt so their peers can improve their game as well.”

The Digicel Kick Start Clinics officially began on Sunday 18th September in Haiti, and have travelled on to Panama, New York, St Kitts & Nevis, Grenada, Suriname and Jamaica. The clinics will now culminate in a week long training session at the Digicel Academy in Trinidad from Tuesday November 1^st to Monday November 7^th.

For more information, visit www.digicelfootball.com   

ABOUT SUNDERLAND AFC

Formed in 1879, Sunderland AFC joined the English Football League in 1890.

Based in the football hotbed of the North East of England, the club has a rich and proud history stretching across many decades, most memorably lifting the top accolade in English Football, the FA Cup, in 1937 and 1973.

Also known as the Black Cats, Sunderland play their home matches at the 49,000 capacity Stadium of Light, moving from their former home of Roker Park in 1997.

In 2010-11 the club finished in the top ten of the Barclays Premier League and subsequently made 11 additions to its playing squad in the summer of 2011 - including Wes Brown and John O’Shea from Manchester United, Swedish international Sebastian Larsson, South Korean striker Ji Dong Won and England U21 rising star Connor Wickham.

SUNDERLAND AFC & DIGICEL

Sunderland AFC has partnered with Digicel in the hugely successful Kick Start Clinics since 2008, welcoming youngsters from the project to its training headquarters as well as sending senior coaching staff to the Caribbean to lead clinics.

Steve Bruce said: “Sunderland is proud to be associated with such a successful project and we are delighted that we can continue to share our club’s expertise and help to give youngsters across the Caribbean and Central America the opportunity to achieve their football dreams.”

ABOUT DIGICEL GROUP

After ten years of operation, Digicel Group Limited has 11.5 million customers across its 32 markets in the Caribbean, Central America and the Pacific. The company is renowned for delivering best value, best service and best network.

Digicel is the lead sponsor of Caribbean, Central American and Pacific sports teams, including the Special Olympics teams throughout these regions. Digicel sponsors the West Indies cricket team and is also the title sponsor of the Digicel Caribbean Cup. In the Pacific, Digicel is the proud sponsor of several national rugby teams and also sponsors the Vanuatu cricket team.

Digicel also runs a host of community-based initiatives across its markets and has set up Digicel Foundations in Jamaica, Haiti and Papua New Guinea which focus on educational, cultural and social development programmes.

In 2004, Digicel developed Digicel Rising Stars – an annual talent show to support aspiring young music artists in the Caribbean. The show has spanned the Eastern Caribbean, Haiti, Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago ranking as one of the top-rated shows.

Digicel is incorporated in Bermuda and its markets comprise: Anguilla, Antigua & Barbuda, Aruba, Barbados, Bermuda, Bonaire, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Curacao, Dominica, El Salvador, Fiji, French Guiana, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Martinique, Nauru, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, St Kitts & Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Suriname, Tonga, Trinidad & Tobago, Turks & Caicos and Vanuatu. Digicel also has coverage in St. Martin and St. Barts in the Caribbean.

Visit www.digicelgroup.com for more information.