Young Bermudian Wins School Football Awards

Bermudian Ryan Parris — who is studying at Trinity College School in Ontario, Canada — has been honoured with two awards for his football prowess, including the Distinction Award for Soccer, which is the highest level sports award granted by the school.

The 17 year old is in Grade 12 and serves as the Co-Captain of the Bigside Soccer Team. The first award he received was for MVP for the Bigside Soccer Team and the the second was the Bigside Soccer Distinction Award.

Below is the speech given by Mr. Parris’ head coach, highlighting his exploits on the field:

For those of you who watched just a single game of Bigside soccer this fall, this distinction award will come as no surprise. Although, the fact that we are presenting such an honour to Ryan Parris tonight might have been a surprise if you asked Mr.Ingram and I two years ago.

As the senior coaches, we routinely check out the future prospects at Littleside, and to be sure, Ryan stood out as a speedy winger with a decent shot, but beyond this, he didn’t yet have a major impact on the game. Ryan went home to Bermuda for the summer and played club soccer, and returned to TCS a completely different player the following fall.

“Because of his newly acquired talents, Ryan was appropriately placed in the centre midfield role, arguably the most important position on the soccer pitch. If you’re not familiar with the game, centre midfielders are those indispensable players who, like in football, play both ways. A centre midfielder is in constant motion and must range from one corner of the field to another.

Such players are normally among the fittest on team, and possess an innate understanding of soccer strategy. These are the quarterbacks who have to read 360 degrees of receiver options and orchestrate an offensive or counter attack on the fly. Ryan cut his teeth in this position last year and much of the team’s success could be attributed to his proficiency.

“This year, there was no question that Ryan would be “quarterbacking” the squad once again, the only difference was that he returned from Bermuda, once again, even better than we as coaches could have imagined. Ryan was faster, stronger, and tougher than any opposing player, but he rarely had to count on these attributes on offense, because his skill with ball gave him all the time in the world he needed to execute the ideal play. It is a sign of respect in soccer to give an opposing player space.

“Mr. Ingram and I could regularly be heard screaming, “don’t jump in!” to one of our players attempting to dispossess a handy opposing player. You see, to lunge at a player with skill and control is simply reckless. That player will make short work of going around you and leaving you feeling somewhat insignificant. Just a few minutes into each game, opposing players were reluctant to engage Ryan at all, recognizing the damage he could exact if they were foolish enough to take him on.

“Whenever Ryan was forced to participate physically, his coaches just smiled knowing full well that the outcome of a physical challenge from Ryan would always be in our favour. On defense, when he didn’t yet have the ball, mild mannered Ryan was absolutely fearsome in full flight. Opposition teams were routinely bounced off the ball and left in a heap when Ryan went in for a challenge. He didn’t need to be fancy on defense, and his tackles were frighteningly aggressive yet always legal. Much to the delight of his coaches, Ryan resurrected the dying art of slide tackling; it’s brilliant when executed properly and he had it down to a science.

“Even on turf fields Ryan would sacrifice his body, and his knees still have the battle scars to prove it. Ryan was never one to show emotion on the field, however, it was always accepted that he was the hardest yet cleanest player on the pitch. His was the first hand opponents would reach for when the match ended, such was the respect he had garnered throughout each challenging encounter. He never let emotion affect good judgment, and as co-captain, his mature influence kept the team disciplined and focused.

“In just a moment you’re going to hear a second distinction speech about another incredibly talented player who was an especially prolific goal scorer, and when you do, it is important to note that Ryan was involved in some way in the majority of those goals. Ryan could score with the best of them, but as “quarterback”, he was selfless almost to a fault, preferring to be the architect, rather than to finish things off himself.

“Ryan was a distributer at heart, and to put things in perspective, in three of our six league games this fall, seven different players on our team registered a goal. Not seven in the three games combined, but in each of those games seven different players scored. And who do you think started the attack?

“To keep things reasonable in one-sided affairs, Ryan almost always had to leave the field in the first half, if not the first 20 minutes. Some players might be frustrated by the limited playing time in those games, but Ryan took it all in stride understanding the optics of the game and recognizing that his substitution simply represented an opportunity for our bench players to improve.”

#AwardWinners #BermudaFootball #BermudaTeens #Canada #GoodNews

Category: All, News, Sports