Visiting pro BMX riders awe Chaguanas North Sec

PROFESSIONAL freestyle BMX riders Ecuadorian Jonathan Camacho and David Peraza from the US, along with TT international riders Keegan Alves and Kestrel Roopnarine, collectively awed Chaguanas North Secondary’s students, teachers and even nearby residents yesterday on their first stop on the 2019 We Love BMX Freestyle Tour.

Professional freestyle riders have always enjoyed a warm welcome in Trinidad when the TT BMX Freestyle Association, led by Trevlon Hall – the country’s most recognisable face in freestyle BMX ­­­­– hosts them.

And yesterday was no different, as hundreds of students and teachers from Chaguanas North, along with onlookers from the neighbourhood, cheered on the riders as they performed backflips and other delicate tricks on the ramps laid down on the school grounds.

“It was fantastic. The kids loved it,” said Hall after yesterday’s first stop in a hectic eight-part tour. “They were enthusiastic because it’s something brand new to a lot of them (compared to) the traditional sports.”

The tour continues today at Couva West Secondary during the school lunch break, between 11.50am-12.50pm, and will continue each day until Sunday.

There will be an interesting turn to the Point Fortin Borough Day celebration, with a demonstration from the quartet on Thursday, and younger spectators will also get a taste of the thrills on Friday during the riders’ visit to the Tunapuna Hindu Primary School.

Hall, TT’s first international BMX freestyler, said, “Now that freestyle BMX is an Olympic sport, and next year will be the first time the sport will be featured (at the Olympics) in Japan, it (is) a wonderful opportunity for us to carry it to the young people, because they are the future of the sport.

“And part of our strategic plan is really to expose them to the sport and then to have a follow-up training programme. So in the eco-system of development for us, the schools are very important, you hear from cricket, football and the other sports, teaching them discipline. BMX (like those sports) teaches them a varying amount of virtues, so they can be better in life.”

Hall expressed gratitude to numerous major sponsors, such as the Ministry of Education, which he said “recognised and appreciated the value of the growing sport and the positive role it can play in the students’ all-round development.”

We Love BMX Freestyle Tour schedule:

Today – Couva West Secondary, 11.50am-12.50pm

Tomorrow – Carapichaima West Secondary, 11.40am-12.40pm

Thursday – Point Fortin Borrow Day Celebrations, 4pm-5pm

Friday – Tunapuna Hindu Primary, 11.25am-12.25pm

Friday – Xtra Foods Plaza Car Park, Chaguanas, 5pm-6pm

Saturday – C3 Centre, San Fernando, 4.30pm-6.30pm

Sunday – Dass Trace Recreation Ground, Enterprise, 4.30pm-6pm