Dominica hosts CBN/Winlott Windward Islands Schools’ Games

Dominica will play to host the to the CBN/Winlott Windward Islands Schools’ Games for 2011 when the tournament runs from 24-31 July. The games were officially launched yesterday afternoon at a press conference.

They will, this year, be staged in the communities of Portsmouth, Roseau and Grandbay, as student athletes from each Windward Island compete in the disciplines of Football, Basketball, Netball, Volleyball and Track and Field.

Sports Coordinator, Trevor Shillingford highlighted the additional features that will now be attached to the games, as he spoke of how they would be administered.

He stated, “This year, we are adding some features to the games; a football match directly following the opening ceremony between Dominica and St Lucia. The games will then move to the host community: Portsmouth, on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. On Wednesday, also we are moving two of the teams to the southern part of Dominica, Grandbay, where Dominica and St Lucia will meet for competition.”

He added, “We are taking the opportunity to get the community of Grandbay involved. We have also invited some traditional groups to perform at the Pierre Charles Secondary School, in an effort to generate interest in the game and to get the public to come out.”

Acting Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports, Kelver Darroux believes that sports continue to be fundamental to the development of the youth of the country. He also spoke of the government’s commitment to making the hosting venues suitable, while he celebrated the youth’s participation at this level of national representation.

“We made a commitment to the games to have the facilities at Portsmouth hard court to be completely resurfaced as well as making certain that the other facilities for the games are up to par. Young people are generally the ones engaged in sporting activities and that is a plus for us, because too many time we find that our young people castigated for their involvement in negative things but when they can come together like this and represent their country they must be commended,” he remarked.

The athletes from the other islands arrive in Dominica on Saturday, ahead of Sunday’s opening ceremony and competitions, which are expected to be under the patronage of His Excellency the President and his wife.