From left to right: School Sports Coordinator Clivus Jules, Minister of Youth Development and Sport Shawn Edward, a representative from the Windward and Leeward Brewery Limited (Piton Malta) and Assistant Manager for Corporate Communications at the Bank of St Lucia Omari Fredrick.
Plans are well on stream to host the 2014 National Inter-Secondary Schools Track and Field Meet, scheduled for Wednesday, March 19 to Friday, March 21 at the Beauséjour Stadium.
School Sports Coordinator Clivus Jules at a press conference to launch the activity on Monday, at the Ministry of Youth Development and Sport said he anticipates a huge turnout, given changes made to the event. He explained that the event was divided in two, with the field event already completed last week at the George Odlum Stadium and the track event, which will kick off on Wednesday.
“It’s a huge event and I am happy this year also that we are able to get new sponsorship on board. We have received a significant contribution from Piton Malta and other corporate sponsors,” Jules added.
Action starts from 9:30 a.m. daily.
The sport official noted that unlike the past where the finals was held on the last day of the meet, this year, the ministry has moved to divide it into all three days.
This means there will be a finals round on each of the three days of the competition, but for different categories.
Jules said the ministry is hoping to make the event bigger than before and will look forward to having the support of not only students, but the entire public.
Students will be permitted once they are uniformed and have been granted permission by their teachers.
Jules asserted that strict guidelines will be followed and security will be enhanced, so as to reduce any re-occurrence of allowing people who are not of school-age to enter the facility. There will also be a designated area for students and another for the general public.
Jules announced that arrangements will be put in place with the help of the St Lucia Mini-Bus Association for persons wishing to attend the event, to use a shuttle service from the Beauséjour Stadium back to Castries.
Meanwhile, Minister of Youth Development and Sport Shawn Edward registered his gratitude to the event’s sponsors, noting that without them, it would not have been so grand this time around.
Edward said while the change in the venue for the meet has caused some mixed reactions, he believes that the new location is more suitable for developing the sport.
“The main stands of the previous stadium were cordoned off during the meet. It reduced the track and field meet to one where it was just students, teachers and a handful of spectators coming together, and for me, it did not create the kind of atmosphere that you want,” the minister added.
According to him, when he was assigned the portfolio of youth development and sport minister, he always had the national inter-secondary schools track and field meet, as one of his priorities, mainly to advance the sport and make it huge on the calendar of events.
This is mainly because St Lucia, he said, has distinguished itself as being arguably one of the best hosts of cricket in the region and as such the ministry will be using that as a model to execute the meet and other sport, using the same standards the country subscribes to, when using regional competitions in other sports.
Edward said, “We believe that it is extremely important that on the eve of the Commonwealth Youth Games … given the magnitude of the games, 2014 into 2017, is no time at all to prepare at a level that is acceptable in the eyes of the commonwealth world. So we want to begin to hype up the nation and the youth of our country, to get them to understand that this is a tremendous undertaking by our country and they have a critical role to play, in ensuring the success of the games on 2017.”
The sport minister said that given the fiscal constraints of the day, the government cannot find all the resources that are needed to execute programmes not just in sport, but health care and infrastructure. Therefore, at every opportunity, he noted, the government is always ready to cooperate with the corporate community; to deliver on the programmes that could make a difference in the lives of citizens.
He also thanked the sponsors of the meet, which includes: the Windward and Leeward Brewery Limited, under its Piton Malta brand for donating $25,000 towards the event, the Bank of St Lucia, Paradise Waters, the St. Lucia Electricity Services Limited (LUCELEC) and Consolidated Foods, among others.