The historical overview A Short History of Santa Rosa De Arima by Jean Patricia Elie states: “[…] Arima was effectively Indian Territory. For most of the 16th and 17th centuries, the district of Arima was the home of the Nepuyo, whose active resistance to Spanish Rule effectively limited Spanish attempts to control and settle northern Trinidad.
“The best known of the Nepuyo was the war chief, Hyarima, who continuously harassed Spanish settlements from his base in Arima.”

Copyright: National Trust.
Hyarima was probably Nepuyo (a tribe of Araucan), born around the beginning of the 17th century, and is considered Trinidad’s first national hero.
Around 1625, he escaped from his northern encomienda and fled to the northeastern end of the island, which was outside of Spanish control at the time. He was determined to preserve his people’s way of life and to expel the Spanish invaders from their ancestral lands.
This brief history lesson about Arima and its people (Gens d’Arime) is critical to get a measure of the Arima North Secondary School football team and its feeder unit (the Arima Araucans Football Academy).
The school is not considered a “prestige” school, and what is now described as Arima differs significantly from the Royal Chartered Borough of Arima. The Maloney housing development in the west and La Horquetta in the east are now all part of Arima. These areas represent the catchment area for the school’s football team.

De Four, 16, is a Maloney resident.
Copyright: Nicholas Bhajan/ Wired868
Over 90% of the team lives between Pinto Road in the east and Oropune in the west. Some of these areas are not considered prime residential areas. Yet Wayne Sheppard (technical director) and Lasana Liburd (programme director) took up the challenge to carry the fight in the Secondary Schools Football League.
Presently, they have five teams with over one hundred boys. They began the journey in 2019 “pretty much from scratch”.
Here is an interview with Lasana as we seek to understand the challenges and what works when your neighbourhood team wants to play on the national stage.
“Our focus was to create an environment where we could demand more from the boys and where it would be easier for them to be successful.”

Copyright: Nicholas Bhajan/ Arima Araucans Academy.
The team they inherited in 2019 finished second from bottom in the second division (East Zone Championship Division) in the previous season. Today, they are holding their own in the Premiership Division. The first challenge for this team is to get the boys to be consistent.
“Some of the boys are not accustomed to being regulars, to attend anything regularly, including school.” The duo of Sheppard and Liburd needed to get the boys to rise above the thinking: “I had a good game on Saturday. I can miss training on Monday!”
The training schedule also presents a financial challenge for the parents because “they don’t have money”. However, this problem is reflected in an attitude where “parents don’t even think it necessary to send them out to school at times”.

Copyright: Daniel Prentice/ Wired868.
How do you overcome these issues? Liburd tells us: “Arima is where I am from! I lose money, and there are no financial returns. It is very fulfilling to me to try to find ways to make this venture a success.
“Despite the limited resources in the back of my mind, in the forefront of my mind is that Sheppard and I are ready to create a program that is so successful that other schools would want to do what we are doing.”
They engage in what is described as “vocabularies of hope”. They do not wallow in the things that go wrong. Vocabularies of hope serve as powerful catalysts for positive social and organisational transformation.

Copyright: Daniel Prentice/ Wired868.
They are ignited when organisational members: (1) nurture cooperative relationships, (2) exercise a sense of optimism about their capacity to influence the future, and (3) inquire together into their most deeply held values and highest aspirations.
As Liburd says, “I’m looking to the stars all the time…every day, Sheppard and I think about improving things. We are not short of ambition. We feel that we could improve what we have.”
Last season was tough. How did Liburd see it?

Copyright: Nicholas Bhajan/ Wired868.
“We are heading in the right direction. We are not where we hope to be yet. Hopefully, we will get there one day!”
What exactly are they doing? They start with the boys. They try to get them to understand how the training benefits them.
Liburd is aware that people in the community would give them contrary advice. They may be tempted to play outside the school programme and risk injury. There is a need for a mindset change since playing for the school requires operating in a structure, and several boys are accustomed to being cavalier.

Copyright: Nicholas Bhajan/ Arima Araucans Academy.
The team has a social media page on which game highlights are posted. The team players get positive reinforcements because the social media page reaches their friends and neighbours. Players become more well-known in their circles.
This posting contributes to the crowd support and the boys doing well. Critically, the boys learn that in a team: “everybody has to give up some of their individuality. Even the best players must do that to fit in with what the team wants to do.”
Parental support is a critical component of the team’s success. There is the continuous challenge of parents needing to discipline their children.

Copyright: Nicholas Bhajan/ Arima Araucans
Some wish to take their child out of the team for a while because of an incident. They see the withdrawal as ‘motivation’, but missing training or games is like missing foundation blocks.
They may believe their boy is talented and all he has to do is show up. They do not know what is needed to turn talent into a competitive player.
“It helps when you have a parent or older brother or someone else willing to listen and reinforce what is being said to the boys.”

Copyright: Nicholas Bhajan/ Arima Araucans.
The team has a parents’ WhatsApp chat group. There is sometimes tension since every parent wants their child to play or play in a different position. Thankfully, some parents recognise the efforts being put in.
Liburd acknowledges that some parents are financially unable to support their sons. He also understands that having a vision of the future can be out of their reach. The lack of ability to make a living locally from football makes it hard for both boys and parents to visualise the future.
On the other hand, they could see “the gangster driving a good car and being in the company of beautiful ladies”. Liburd tries to bridge the gap by having the boys who won scholarships come by and chat with the team. He encourages the team to check the winners’ Instagram pages.

Henry was a East Zone Intercol winner with Arima North Secondary in 2023.
These scholarship winners represent what is possible. The trigger is to ignite the drive of the young men.
“The boys who go further all have that drive. They find a way to put in the work. We have some boys that it does not matter what profession they go into. Their drive to improve is great, and they would achieve in whatever to do when they get the opportunity.”
A considerable challenge is the financial cost of having a team in the League. The travel expenses militate against a secondary school without the support system of the traditional colleges.
- Arima North Secondary utility player Criston “CJ” Gomez scores a screamer in a 5-0 win over St Augustine Secondary in SSFL Premier Division action at the Arima Velodrome on 14 September 2024.
The colleges also place more emphasis on extra-curricular activities. Their Old Boys Associations are supportive in terms of cash infusions.
Liburd notes that support for Arima North, outside of some contributions from NLCB and ECU, depends on their success on the field. He compares the lack of support from the school and its alumni to “going to war without bullets”.
Discussing community support, Liburd says: “Some of these people come around and make nice speeches. A lot of times, they are happy to pat you on the back. They want to see a winning team and be entertained on match day.

Copyright: Nicholas Bhajan/ Arima Araucans Academy.
“They accept the team when it does something they can be proud of. They have to see and like the finished product before they give, instead of understanding the role they could play in developing the children and the team.”
But the eternal optimist is happy for the support he has. He is very proud of the gift of a video camera from the InterAmerican Development Bank, which helps the team to gain confidence. He is thankful for Dr Fazal Ali’s help in shaping the proposal to get the help.
Dr Oba Gulston has been a perennial help in offering medical support through his Sports MedicTT clinc. He salutes Mrs Arianne D’Abreau Forde, a past vice-principal, for her visionary leadership and help, while the bulk of their success came under recently retired principal Vishnu Debie.

Howard University donated some equipment to the school programme in 2023.
Copyright: Arima Araucans Academy
Visits from 2006 World Cup goalkeeper Kelvin Jack, former Howard University president Dr Wayne Frederick, counsellor Neil Parsanlal, UWI sport marketing lecturer Sherlan Cabralis and Arima MP Pennelope Beckles boost the boys’ spirits and help them to think outside of the box.
The question that remains to be answered by all is: “What are we going to do to help build the warrior spirit in our communities?”
Will we follow Liburd and use a vocabulary of hope as we tackle the enormous challenges on our doorsteps? Or will we engage in negative talk that prevents us from succeeding?

Copyright: Nicholas Bhajan/ Arima Araucans.
Do we see the value of sports in curbing crime among our youths?
The choice is ours!
Editor’s Note: Noble Philip is chair of MFO, which donates to the Arima Araucans Academy that, in turn, runs the Arima North Secondary football programme.
Lasana Liburd is managing director of Wired868.
Click HERE for the Arima North Secondary football team Instagram page, and HERE for their Facebook page.

Noble Philip, a retired business executive, is trying to interpret Jesus’ relationships with the poor and rich among us. A Seeker, not a Saint.
An interesting model that reinforces the distinction between schooling and education.
A serious model of how Football in School (cf Lloyd Best’s elaboration of the idea of Pan in School) can work for our students.
Two things, however, strike me as absent from the story:
(1) Nowhere is there any explicit mention of anyone’s performance in the classroom and/or in external examinations.
(2) Although we are told that the author’s MFO “donates to the Arima Araucans Academy,” the word ‘sponsorship’ (in the narrow sense in which it is used with, say, steelbands) is nowhere to be found in the story.
Are there any efforts to involve this type of sponsor or do the competition’s rules not allow for the advertising that would make that more attractive to the corporate sector in Arima and environs and elsewhere?
Or does the model require avoidance of that element for reasons that we need not elaborate here?
Hello. Although it was not in the story, the Arima North programme pays close attention to the performance of boys in schools and interacts regularly with teachers. It has been that way since day one. For instance, a boy who is absent from school cannot take part in a training session–much less in a match for Arima North. However, our interaction does go well beyond that.
In year one, we got persons who donated their time pro bono to give free lessons to the players.
In year two, we got a sponsor who paid for lessons for two or three months for the boys.
We have not gotten such help since, so we stick to trying to liaise with teachers and parents on that subject.
I’d say the difference between sponsorship and donation starts with volume. We welcome both. We do not have a title sponsor or a secondary sponsor yet, but we hope that changes soon.
Keep up the great work lasana to you and sheppy. You’ll understand the plight of the youth. Wanting to see young people get opportunities and finding ways to improve them as human beings first. People do not want to see the development process,all they want to see is that star, that Diamond. The cooperate world needs to do more at supporting the schools within their communities. they are the first to complain about our young people in society but rarely put a good helping hand forward so
as to help them progress or to achieve their goals. When will the majority of our Caribbean businesses understand and listen to the cries of our young people. they don’t need lip service…but true commitment.