The St. Maarten Futsal Association (SMFA) is in high gear making preparations for their annual tournament, which is again being sponsored by NAGICO Insurances.
The board of the SMFA says the 2011 Futsal tournament is set to begin on Sunday July 24th at the LB Scott Auditorium on the Illidge Road. As is customary the tournament promises to be exciting and will run from July to mid-December.
This year’s tournament will consist of a senior, a veteran and a youth division. The SMFA says that 16 teams have signed up for the senior competition o far and because of this huge interest this year, they have decided to give first preference of registration to the returning teams and new teams will be treated as a first come first served basis.
NAGICO has been a loyal sponsor of the SMFA since their inception four years ago and is pleased to be part of the 2011 season.
"We are proud to be the major sponsor of the Futsal tournament for the fourth year in a row," Marketing Officer; Jimmy Challenger said. "We wish all the participating teams much success and encourage the public at large to come out and support the games."
Newly elected President of the SMFA; Steven Tjin Aton gave an overview of how the games would run. "In the first round of the competition the senior teams will be divided into 4 groups and the top 2 teams of each group will advance to the final 8 and battle for the NAGICO Super League Cup," he explained. "The remaining teams will battle for the NAGICO Division Cup and the youth and veterans will battle in a Round-Robin for the Youth and Senior Cup."
Some of these teams include: Paradise-Inn, Flames United etc. Meanwhile, the SMFA elected a new board on the 19th of June 2011, naming Tjin Aton as their new president, Norbert Graves as treasurer, Michael Henry – Secretary, John Philips and Edson Oehlers as Commissioners. This board will run for a term of 4 years.