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The weekend we all prepare for

Young football players from around the island enjoyed themselves during the Kappa Classic tournament held at the National Sports Centre (photos by Glenn Tucker)

The weekend that football clubs all around our Island prepare for.It goes down in history as the weekend when the Kappa’s give back; and not just show their love and support for the sport of football but the appreciation for the things that this sport brings together on our island. The sport that never fails to bring families, friends and communities together as one on a beautiful spring weekend.The support is not only showed by spectators, and the Kappa Fraternity Brothers, but is continuously supported by generous sponsors such as XL, Bermuda Sport Anti Doping Authority, Butterfield & Vallis, Tokio Millennium Re. Ltd., Mini Max Forwarders, CellOne, Electric Supply Ltd., Catlin, Barrit’s, Mode Transportation Inc., Atlantic Medical International, Action Services, Oil Insurance Ltd., Corporation of Hamilton, Department of Youth, Families and Sports, ACE, Bank of Bermuda Foundation, TBI, RenaissanceRe, Telecom Bermuda, Burgess Electrical, and to top the lengthy list off, The Department of Education.At these events hundreds gather to show their support, engage in positive rivalry between the teams, and simply just to have a wonderful time. Every year on the night before my mommy packs lunch bags for my younger siblings, in preparation for my little brother’s big day. It’s never a question if the family was going down the field to support. One by one from the youngest to the eldest we stagger into bed willingly. The anticipation for the big day became overwhelming as it grew closer and I for one had to be up early to volunteer at the famous Kappa Classic Soccer Tournament.In the morning we all knew what we had to do, as families around the Island dressed in their team colours and ensured their children had on their football gear and sun block they ventured off. By bus, car, taxi or just walking off or up a hill the crowd staggered in by bunch.By 8am the dedicated football parents had been setting up their sites, by 8.30 the teams and coaches sat around in circles. Coaches asking if their players had already eating breakfast and if they had a goodnights rest because today all that mattered was playing to their best ability. There wasn’t much time left until the first games of the day where about to begin when cheerful children in their clean, soon to be sweaty football uniforms, ran onto the field practicing kicking the football around, dribbling and of course scoring. Children drilling their goal keepers, making sure that they kept on their toes.Older teams handling the ball in a careful manner, guarding it as if it were about to grow legs and run away, told everyone around them that they were skilled. Without having to say not one word the older children had told the spectators that they knew what they were doing. Boys on the side putting on their football pads, and yakking to their teammates about how far they had making it in past tournaments and their hopes for this year.The confidence that the young children displayed! They took great pride in their craft so with every kick and every pull on their lace they said a silent promise. A promise all saw in their face as each huddled in their circles before their game, later to walk on the field and reveal this promise to all who gathered to watch. A promise to their teammates that stated, ‘today I will play like I have never played before, today I must not let my team or myself down.’ It was perfect football weather. Lining the field were parents and spectators from around the Island, who all had poured in to support the young children who vowed to play a great game that Saturday. For all who watched, it was the joy on our loved ones faces that we came to see, the passion and fight in their eyes, as well as the radiant atmosphere that surrounded us. But for these young footballers it was so much more than that, on this day they had a goal, to score as much goals possible.It was a battle that only few teams would win, a fight that would leave both the winner and their opponents breathless and shaking with adrenalin. This was football, a fight worth fighting for. The aromas of fried foods and cotton candy field the air, children walking around with their friends laughing, while others patiently wait in an ice-cream line. The brothers of Kappa Alpha Fraternity, flaunting their fraternity tracksuits and hats, while making sure everything was running as smoothly as possibly could. Volunteers carrying out their specific tasks in their red and black Kappa Classic 2013 shirts, making sure the hyped crowd stayed behind restricted areas, running papers folded, which would reveal the outcome of finished games and who was to challenge whom in the next matches.It was a couple hours past lunch and the games where just heating up. As many teams were unsuccessful in keeping their place, the remaining teams had turned the game into something personal. They began to taste a win and the crowd became quiet and focused, it was these few last games of that Saturday that would determine who made it to the finals. Fields where made wider for the older children, size four footballs were swapped for size five. As the referee blew his whistle they were off! The ball spun and wove patterns around the opponent’s legs as the match grew more intense. This proved to be the last matches of the day and a spin off to who will continue on in the tournament on the Sunday and ultimately be awarded at the end of it all.The day that more than 1,000 players had been preparing for and drawn more than 8,000 spectators was coming to an end. Little by little the fields began to clear out, one child crying over a loss while his teammates try to assure him that it was okay. Other children dragging their feet from the long day, while surprisingly some other children were the total opposite. Instead they were wired with the adrenalin that was still running throughout their bodies. In that crowd I saw people from different backgrounds branching off wounded from an amazing day. People from around the Island about to be headed back home, pleased and grateful for such an event. This I consider as a retreat, and once again like every year, the community will prepare and await the upcoming Kappa Classic Tournament.

Young football players from around the island enjoyed themselves during the Kappa Classic tournament held at the National Sports Centre (photos by Glenn Tucker)
Young football players from around the island enjoyed themselves during the Kappa Classic tournament held at the National Sports Centre (photos by Glenn Tucker)
Young football players from around the island enjoyed themselves during the Kappa Classic tournament held at the National Sports Centre (photos by Glenn Tucker)
Young football players from around the island enjoyed themselves during the Kappa Classic tournament held at the National Sports Centre (photos by Glenn Tucker)