Hundreds in Sport for All’s Festival of Games 2010

Hundreds of Vincentians sportspeople joined the National Olympic Committee’s Sport for All Commission on Sunday last when the Festival of Sports featured several of the nation’s sporting disciplines at the Arnos Vale Sports Complex.

Athletics featured Kids in Athletics where some eight teams were in friendly competition.

The activities found favour with the appreciative audience to say nothing of the excitement generated amongst the participants. Later the 5K Road Race saw participants in Under 13, Under 15, Under 19, 19+ and Veterans in both male and female categories.

Basketball was also in the fray on the hard courts where the fundamental drills were displayed before some exciting games were played.

Boxing featured an exhibition in which all the basic equipment used in the sport were on display. The coaches then engaged several youngsters from Greggs and Layou in the fundamentals of sparring before there was a mini competition between the athletes from both communities, much to the delight of the crowd on hand.

Cycling engaged participants in a wide range of dexterity events, perhaps the most exciting of which was ‘the slowest cyclist wins’, allowing the participants to display their balancing skills. The association ended its participation with a cycling road race from Arnos Vale to Calliaqua and back.

Netball was also involved with a number of teams on hand to engage in friendly competition towards the end of the day.

16 teams took the field in the most amazing 5-a-side small goal football competition that ran from 10:00am through to 4:30pm. It was great fun and every participant found the competition most entertaining.

The day also witnessed Rugby, the latest addition to the Summer Olympics, brought a relatively large contingent that thrilled to the extreme. Tag Rugby was well executed with the youngsters while the adults gave a scintillating display of how the sport is actually played.

Table Tennis was housed at the Media Centre and featured several athletes from across the country who learnt the basic skills before engaging in fun-filled competition.

Taekwondo mounted an exhibition that was well received. The same course of action was undertaken by the National Anti Doping Organisation (NADO) headed by Dr Perry De Freitas. The latter organisation ensured that there were leaflets on fair play and the dynamics of drug-free sport on display and for distribution amongst the participants in the day’s activities.

Tennis featured the display of skills and a few competitive games that kept the interest of the participants and spectators.

Volleyball brought several teams from across the country who all enjoyed themselves while displaying their skill competencies.

President of the National Olympic Committee, Trevor ‘Sailor’ Bailey, who was himself one of the coordinators of the cycling component expressed his own enthusiasm with the day’s proceedings. He noted that the affiliates must move in the direction of hosting this event annually, even if it means procuring other resources.

This year’s event was covered through funding from Olympic Solidarity, the development arm of the  International Olympic Committee.