AYM and Wa­ter­loo Star­lets pre­vailed against the per­sis­tant weath­er con­di­tons and the tough chal­lenges from the op­po­si­tion to clinche the na­tion­al ti­tles in the boy's and girl's un­der-17 age groups re­spec­tive­ly at the fi­nals of the 15th edi­tion of the Re­pub­lic Bank 'Right Start' Youth Foot­ball Tour­na­ment. The event cli­maxed at the Queen's Park Sa­van­nah in Port-of-Spain on Sun­day with 60 teams, all of which were vy­ing for top ho­n­ours in three age groups.

In the fi­nal of the boy's un­der-17 di­vi­sion, AYM lift­ed the ti­tle be­hind an ex­cit­ing 1-0 vic­to­ry over favourite SKHY Foot­ball Acad­e­my.

Wa­ter­loo Star­lets copped the girl's ti­tle in the same fash­ion, edg­ing its more fan­cied op­po­nent, Petrotrin FC by a sim­i­lar mar­gin.

San Juan Jabloteh cap­tured the boy's un­der-15 di­vi­sion crown when it edged Step by Step 1-0.

The fi­nal day saw the skill lev­el of the play­ers sig­fi­ciant­ly im­proved from the qual­i­fy­ing rounds, while the coach­es al­so came in for high praise as goals were at a pre­mi­um on the day. In the boy's un­der-12 di­vi­sion fi­nal, St Ann's Rangers de­feat­ed Gas­par­il­lo Youths 1-0; while St Clair Coach­ing School, the "Pride and Joy" of To­ba­go, bagged the un­der-ten di­vi­sion crown af­ter de­feat­ing Ful­ham FC al­so 1-0.

The teams and play­ers will be ho­n­oured at a prize-pre­sen­ta­tion cer­e­mo­ny which will take place lat­er this month on a date and venue to be an­nounced. The day's pro­gramme saw teams par­tic­i­pate in over 150 match­es that were full of fun, ex­cit­ment, dis­ap­point­ment and tri­umph for all par­tic­i­pants.