THE LOCAL OLYMPIC MOVEMENT is now using art to push its values.
The educational arm of the Barbados Olympic Association (BOA), the National Olympic Academy, has launched a Primary Inter-School Sport And Art Competition emphasising excellence, friendship and respect – the core principles of Olympism.
Director of the academy, Dave Farmer, disclosed the details to a gathering of media, primary school students and teachers at the BOA headquarters yesterday, revealing the competition will be seeking to promote the synergies between sport and art.
Students are encouraged to creatively express their ideas of sport in a visual medium of their choosing.
School prizes will include art supplies and sports equipment, while individual prize winners will receive tablets and cash.
“In keeping with the goals of the Olympic Charter, our programmes are generally educational in nature and attempt to reach out to all sectors of the sporting fraternity: athletes, coaches, administrators, mangers, national federations, sports associations and clubs,” Farmer said.
Among the programmes he listed were athlete support grants, team support grants, development of national sport structure, technical courses for coaches, a basic sport administration course for national federations and an advanced sport management course.
Principal of Hilda Skeene, Ivan Clarke, who is also the president of the Association of Public Primary Schools Principals, welcomed the academy’s new initiative, saying that sports have been sidelined as mainly recreational for too long. (PR)
