Twelve athletes, consisting of both girls and boys, are prepped and ready to represent Dominica at CARIFTA Games 2017 in Curaçao over the Easter Weekend.
Seven females; Shanee Angol, Treneese Hamilton, Natherlie Robert, Keva Pierre, Kianne Benjamin, Tia George, Fannie Greg, and five males; Keyon Burton, Josh Toussaint, Danelson Mahutiere, Leon Hypolite, and Cody Hamilton are the individuals who have been selected to compete.
DNO spoke to a number of the athletes and they all shared the same joy and excitement over being given the privilege of representing the country at such a big event.
Treneese Hamilton who is to compete in the ‘shot put’ event, plans on having a gold medal or bronze medal, and has been training to prepare her body for the event.
“Training has been casual so that my body can get warmed or relaxed for me to be able to throw it (heavy spherical ball) with the power that I have,” Hamilton said.
The support from friends, families and team members has been great according to the athletes and they are looking to make their families and country proud.
However, there were some concerns.
Danelson Mahutiere attends the St. Mary’s Academy and although he is excited about representing the country, he believes he could have trained more if the school allotted some time for it.
“This (training) has been very difficult because the school system does not accommodate sports, especially at the St. Mary’s Academy. That is a school that focuses solely on academics and when you’re a sports person, it is very difficult because we get no special favors to get time for sports. So it has been very difficult, I missed a lot of my training due to that,” Mahutiere said.
President of the Dominica Olympic Committee, Felix Wilson, and other heads of various sports associations wished the athletes well and committed their full support to them.
“I wish the athletes of Dominica well. Your two-day stay in St. Maarten in preparations for the games, I hope that will contribute but let us hope that come next year, wherever the games are being held, we will be much better prepared,” Wilson remarked.
FLOW Dominica is the headline sponsor for the athletes journey to Curacao, and the games can be viewed free of charge by downloading the ‘Flow Sports App’ on Google Play Store and the Apple Store.
The games will be held on April 15, 16 and 17.
another athletics news without results and personal best… smfh
Good luck. Please train them to rep us in the next Olympics!
What a shame. In this day and age schools font accommodate their sports personalities.
Congrats to all the athletes to Josh I say u missed a medal last year due to injury and still came close on the podium this year wishing u and all the other athletes God’s favor go and do yr best, and to support Danielson on his comment this is so true and the DSC, must be guilty of that. So athletes go under Gods guidance and protrction. All the best my Dominican athletes