[FOOTBALL]

Posted May 06, 2:05 P.M.

Soocer coach sees talent but wants more emphasis on academics

Three Grenadian footballers will attend the Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) next semester on full football scholarships.

This was announced by SNHU’s soccer head coach Thomas Poitras on Monday evening following a one-week scouting mission.

Poitras has identified National Under-23 captain Ricky Morris for a scholarship.

“We are working on Ricky Morris’ SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test) scores. We believe we’ll probably bring Ricky Morris up with us. He got some good potential and he is still a young player and could grow hopefully still. We have also set the ball rolling for the next couple of years as well. Hopefully, we can keep bringing one or two players in the future,” Poitras said.

National youth players Joel Forde and Sherwin Merryman, who are attending the Lakeland Community College in Ohio, have also secured transfers to SNHU.

The three will join national midfielder Anthony Augustine who is into his second season at SNHU.

However, Poitras believes more players could benefit from the scholarship programme if the academics are leveled with the talent.

“I think there is a lot of good talent here. But I think the players need to concentrate on their academics as well as their football.

There are plenty of players we found that we could bring out on football scholarships but we need the mix of academics and football. I think they could fit into the system in the United States and do very well at our universities,” he said.

The American coach has also met with a number of students and parents on Saturday at the T.A. Marryshow Community College. He also addressed the student body of the St. John’s Christian Secondary School on Monday.

“I think education and awareness are important in this project. We need to educate the students, parents and some of the coaches to what the needs are for players to go the United States to study and play football. I think it’s a good first step. It’s going to take sometime to develop over the next couple of years but I think there will be a trend if they push the academics strong enough that some other coaches would be able to come down,” Poitras said.

The US soccer coach visited the island on the invitation of former national player Marlon Glean and Fontenoy United Club.