MUNRO College in St Elizabeth will host the seventh annual Jonathan ‘Johnno’ Hibbert memorial football tournament for aspiring student-athletes next Saturday on the school grounds, with registration due to start at 8:00 pm.

The main purpose of the tournament is to provide a scholarship scouting events for overseas coaches, which will enable bright student-athletes to display their football skills to invited coaches from prestigious universities in the United States, with the hope of obtaining scholarships.

More than 400 male and female student-athletes attend each year, with over 250 Jamaicans already given the opportunity to study in the US as a direct result of this tournament.

An average of eight coaches attend the event each year, with a record 12 attending last year, and already six universities have already committed to send coaches to this year’s tournament.

One of the scholars from last year’s event, Nugene Nugent, is presently making waves on the National Junior College Athletics Association (NJCAA), having scored 22 goals with 19 assists in her freshman year at Navarro College.

The organisers ask the studentathletes who will be participating in the event to take along their SAT scores, plus they will also be required to make a donation of $100 to assist with expenses of meals and refreshments.

Hibbert, a former Munro College and national Under-17 footballer, died tragically in a road traffic accident in May Pen in December 2002, on his way to the airport for a trial stint with a English club.

The Jonathan Hibbert foundation was then established a year later and the first tournament was held in 2006.

According to event organiser, Kevin Holmes, the tournament continues to provide an avenue for our young studentathletes to advance their education and he believes that with more exposure, the event can open a lot more doors for youngsters.

“This has been a great success… but this is our seventh year and we want to come stronger and help more of our talented youths become more of a household name,” he said.

The event will kickstart with a coaches’ session on Friday, followed by the tournament on Saturday and will be concluded with a coaching clinic for the players on Sunday.