Primary school athletes are also going to get their day in the sun after all.
One day after announcing that a secondary schools’ athletics meet is on for next week, Minister of Sport Stephen Lashley confirmed that Kensington Oval would be the site for five zone meets, a semi-final and the final of the National Primary Schools’ Athletic Championship (NAPSAC) in May.
He revealed the dates of each event in a Press release following yesterday’s meeting with the NAPSAC organizing committee, the National Sports Council and officers from the Ministry of Education.
“I know that the young athletes, the coaches and all persons that are involved will be very happy to know that we have come to the point of saying this year there will be a NAPSAC,” said Lashley, who is also Acting Minister of Education.
“Certainly, as minister with the responsibility for sports, I too am very pleased that we could come to a decision in circumstances where we know that there is a challenge with the National Stadium track, which, of course, we are committed to completing.
“We will, as a country, from time to time have to make decisions which are based on circumstances over which we have no control and it is in these circumstances that the resilience of our country is usually required,” he added.
After work at the National Stadium was delayed, Kensington Oval was originally considered as a possible venue before the West Indies Cricket Board invoked its exclusivity clause ahead of the Test series against Zimbabwe.
Blenheim was also suggested as a replacement site before both organizing committees decided against the St Michael venue amid security concerns.
Several school principals have since indicated their displeasure of having the meets in the Trinity term, but Lashley argued that scrapping both competitions this year was never a possibility.
“It’s very critical for us to provide a platform upon which our junior athletes can excel, and to have one year absent from their repertoire of athletic meets would not augur well, in my estimation, in terms of the policy framework for the development of sports,” he said.
“So, therefore, I sought to ensure that though we were met with a particular development in relation to the [National] Stadium track, that should not in any way distract us in terms of finding alternative solutions.
“It is critical, I consider, as a country, we have to see athletic activity, physical development activity, as being very key to our own development as a nation.
“We cannot only look at academics in a very narrow way. Sports in general must become the ethos, the central ethos upon which we grow as a nation and we have to be very careful that we don’t send mixed signals, particularly to our young people, that we can very quickly drop athletic competition because we are faced with articular situations.”
The five zone meets are slated for May 8, 9, 10, 13 and 14 before action returns to the Oval again for the May 21 semi-finals.
The final is tentatively slated for the same venue on May 31 unless the National Stadium track is completed by that date.
