Warrior spirit inspires Malick Gladiators

SOCCER coach Abdul Salick wants the young people of Malick to dream of doing great things with their lives and to believe in themselves, on and off the football field.

As coach of the Malick Gladiators football team, this is the message he tries to drum into the minds of his young players, before and after every training session.

Salick chose the word gladiator because he is trying to instill, in his players, the never-say-die Warriors’ spirit to succeed, academically and athletically.

He has approximately 45 youngsters training under him at the Malick Savannah every day from 4 pm to 6 pm.

Salick also arranges games for them on the weekends and is making attempts to take them across the country.

“I’m also trying to arrange a trip to for them to Tobago when their schools close for the holidays,” he said.

The Malick Gladiators have played two games since coming together a month and a half ago. “We drew 1-1 against an under-18 team from Carenage and then we played against a Malick team, comprising of over 20-year-old players, which we won 4-2.

“I also want to make sure that they do well in school because education is a priority. I look at their schoolbooks and if they need help, I will help them and get them back on track to become A-plus students.

“In education, they should shoot for the sky but if they don’t reach there, then they’ll hit the stars. Through football, they can get football scholarships to good schools and they can become doctors, lawyers, businessmen and professional footballers. I’m making champions in Malick.”

He tries to assist them, academically by reading and talking to them about TT, Caribbean and world history. He sometimes reads some creative writing pieces on the arrival of European explorer Christopher Columbus and the Amerindians resistance to European colonialism.

Salick is back home after spending many years in Canada as a soldier in the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) and studying at York University, Toronto.

Forming the Malick Gladiators is one way Salick wants to help the youths of Malick to become better citizens. He also wants to establish a modern football stadium at the Malick Savannah for the area’s young people.

“Malick is a beautiful place and I want to get a beautiful stadium built on the grounds,” he said.

“I use football as a means of building their characters because it teaches to struggle and overcome adversity which they would face in life. And, no other game in the world transcends the planet’s problems the way football does.”

He said with football, if they win, they celebrate, if they lose, they still celebrate because they make new friends at the end of the match.

A politically conscious man, Salick wants to become politically active to help TT become a better nation.

The former St George’s College student holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science from Canada’s York University. He also graduated with a Specialised Honours Degree in International Development Studies (IDS) and is on the Dean’s Honour List of York University’s Faculty of Arts for 2005.

Salick has won the prestigious Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Award in 2004, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) medal for service in the former Yugoslavia in January 2004 and the Canadian Peacekeeping Medal in July 2001.

The Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Award is awarded to only those Canadians who have made “outstanding and exemplary contributions to their communities or to Canada as a whole.”

The former Canadian soldier also received the SSM (Special Service Medal) in 1993 which is given to Canadian members.

He also holds a Canadian National Coaching Certificate Programme Levels 1 and 2 from York University which allows him to coach internationally at university and other levels.

Salick has extensive experience in coaching football with the Canadian Armed Force (CAF) and Canadian youths.

He was the trainer for the Canadian military contingent to Eastern Europe, Bosnia, 2001 playing against Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian, Swedish, British and American military football teams.

“I was also the coach for my unit at Petawawa, Ontario, Canada, in the Men’s Indoor Soccer League which we won in 2002.”

In 1993-1995 Salick coached the Westview High School Junior Team in Toronto, carrying them to victory in the North York Championship in 1994.

Salick has big dreams for his Gladiators.

“I want them to light up the sky whenever they play football to give their all on the playing field,” he said. When most of the youngsters gathered at the Malick Savannah, Salick began the training session by instructing them on the basics of the game and drilled them on the filed. The youths then played a full 90-minute game among themselves in which Salick was the referee.

“I’m looking at helping to make them into the best that they can be, and it doesn’t happen overnight but give me a couple of years and I’ll make these brothers winners, both in the game and in life itself,” he declared confidently.