ADD GOLF and handball to the list of sports getting a further boost to their youth drives.
The two sports are set to become the newest additions to the National Sports Council’s (NSC) Summer Camp, increasing the number of disciplines to 18 ahead of this month’s 27th edition of the annual sports training camp.
NSC assistant director Mona Alleyne made the announcement yesterday during the press launch at the council’s headquarters in Blenheim prior to today’s opening for registration.
“There has never been a demand really, but one of the purposes of the camp is to build the bases of the federations,” said Alleyne, the director of the summer camp.
“We know that golf is a fairly expensive sport, and sometimes for ordinary schoolchildren to get into the sport this may be the only avenue that is open to them, so we use this then as our way to assist them.
“That is [also] our way of assisting the national federations, by introducing the sport so it will help improve the numbers at the base level,” she added.
More than 1 500 campers between the ages of eight and 16 are expected to be divided among the 18 sporting disciplines at 11 venues.
They will be joined by 40 of the country’s best under-16 footballers, who are slated to be in a special training camp at Blenheim ahead of the national junior team’s tour to Trinidad.
Eight visiting teams from England and North America are also expected to take part in the camp, competing in cricket, football, netball and basketball at the under-15 and under-17 levels.
“It is without doubt the most popular sports summer camp anywhere across the English-speaking Caribbean,” attested NSC senior coach Adrian Donovan.
The NSC’s 45 coaches, assisted by 75 volunteers, will lead the training at the camp, which attracted a new sponsor in Powerade and additional sponsorship from LIME and Sagicor.
“We think that this camp is a really good avenue for our young people and a worthwhile venture to get involved in during the long summer vacation,” said LIME’s corporate communications officer Sonji Bovell-Phillips.
“For too many years now we’re complaining how wayward these youth are but I don’t think we talk enough about the positive things they do and I have a firsthand view of this camp.”
This year’s opening ceremony will be at the National Stadium in conjunction with the opening of the national summer camps on June 27. (JM)