STCJ Youth Airoli - Record Breakers & History Makers at the Navi Mumbai Deanery Sports Day 2026

11th January 2026 will always be remembered as the day when STCJ Youth Airoli showed what domination looks like by creating history and breaking records at the Navi Mumbai Deanery Sports Day 2026 which was held at Sacred Heart School, Vashi. This year, the Deanery Sports Day featured 5 sports (Carrom, Table Tennis, Cricket, Dodgeball, Football) and 8 Navi Mumbai Parishes & the overall champions were decided by their performances in these 5 Sports via points (100, 75, 50, 25) & it was set to be a fascinating end to what is the biggest sporting event for every Navi Mumbai Deanery Youth. Our Carrom stars Amreena Thomas and Jeffrin Fernandez put our Church on the front foot by executing all their plans to perfection and by winning all their games comfortably against Nerul (Round 1), Kharghar (Semi Final) and Vashi (Final) & helping us earn 100 massive points to kick-off the day. This was also their 3rd Gold Medal in Carrom in 4 attempts - a new Navi Mumbai Deanery Record. Up next was Table Tennis and the super team of Ashley Coutinho and Elita Lobo showed their mental strength, excellent decision making and set an example of team work once again via their exquisite skills. They defeated Kalamboli (Round 1), Vashi (Semi Final) and Kharghar (Final) & helped us earn 100 more points to increase our lead in the overall standings. With indoor events completed, it was now time to head to the turf for Cricket and to the ground for Dodgeball. Our Cricket Squad led by our fantastic captain Johnson Gaikwad looked pretty solid from practice sessions itself. It also consisted of Aryan Colaso, Darren Mascarenhas, Elisha Gras, Elita Lobo, Jeston Dsouza, Nishit MJ, Ryan Colaso and Savaryson Nadar. They put up some incredible performances with the ball and bat to defeat Kharghar (Round 1) and Sanpada (Semi Final), however, felt short by 6 runs in the finals against Vashi. The team earned 75 valuable points which took us to 275 points overall. Our girls - led by our sensational captain and youth secretary Shanelle Sethi also included Amreena Thomas, Anaisha Fernandes, Elisha Gras, Elita Lobo, Mansi Jelatin, Richelle Almeida and Vanessa Joseph. They practiced multiple times for this day and did their best on the main day. They came 3rd in Dodgeball after facing Vashi, Kharghar, Uran and Nerul throughout the tournament and by winning 3 of those matches. The girls helped us earn 50 priceless points for this sport which helped us increase our points tally to 325 points and it made sure that were still 1st going into the final sport. Football was the final sport left and everything was on the line since the equation was clear even before the 1st match started. Airoli were leading with 325 points and Vashi were second with 300 points with a maximum of 100 points still left to be won. The football squad led by our incredible captain and youth vice president Ronald Menezes also consisted of Anlon Almeida, John Varghese, Joshua Suryawanshi, Rex Dsouza, Saumik Naik and Savaryson Nadar. They defeated a stacked Kharghar team 3-0 in the first round with goals from Anlon, Rex and Joshua to setup a semi final battle which turned out to the main game of the entire Deanery Sports Day - a clash with Vashi in a winner takes all format since a win for Airoli would mean that they are guaranteed a first place finish overall and a win for Vashi would mean that they would be guaranteed a first place finish overall too. The match was fierce, brutal and nothing short of a battle with tackles, pushes and players giving their all on the turf; the match ended 0-0 and went down to penalties where Anlon, Ronnie Rex scored their penalties with class and composure & our Goalkeeper Savy made a crucial save and made himself big enough for the opponent to miss his last penalty which helped us defeat Vashi and guarantee the 1st place trophy. Our boys did not let this win distract them and they were still focused on the last match of the tournament - the football final vs Nerul. Anlon scored the only goal of the match as Airoli won 1-0 against Nerul to win football for the 2nd time in 2 years at the Deanery Sports Day and to earn 100 more points for our Church. We ended the day with 425/500 points - a new record and created history by becoming the first ever team to do so. The day ended with the prize distribution ceremony as our youth collected their well deserved medals and then lifted the prestigious Navi Mumbai Deanery Champions Trophy for the 2nd time in our history.

The youth would like to thank all those who participated, their parents and also everyone who came to support them, help during practices and all our parishioners who wish the best for our youth. This is just the beginning, 2026 will be filled with many more tournaments and trophies for our Church.