‘Come to the Stadium’

SPONSORS and organisers of the National Gas Company (NGC)/National Association of Athletics Administrations (NAAA) Championship Series are asking for the people of TT to support the local athletes when they compete here and not just wait to cheer them when the bring glory to us at international events.

The next two months will be a busy time for local track and field with a number of events being held, at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, in Port of Spain.

The NGC/NAAA Junior Championships will take place tomorrow and Sunday, followed by the NGC/NAAA Juvenile Championships on June 15 and 16.

The action does not stop there as the Republic Bank/NAAA Relay Festival will take place on June 29, before the series comes to an exciting close with the NGC/Sagicor/NAAA Open Championships from July 26 to 28. The open championships will feature this country’s top athletes including the TT men’s 4x400m relay team that won gold at the IAAF World Relays in Yokohama, Japan, last month.

Yesterday, at a press conference to highlight the championship series at Radisson Hotel in Port of Spain, a video was shown of the gold medal performance in Japan.

Myles Lewis, head of corporate social responsibility at NGC, said, “Achievements like these (gold medal in Japan) certainly galvanise public support of our athletes, but we cannot just be fair-weather fans and bandwagonists. Our athletes need us behind them well before they take the track at these international events This means giving them encouragement throughout their careers from junior through to the professional levels. This is one of the driver’s behind NGC’s sponsorship of this championship series. I want to issue an appeal to the public to come out and motivate our athletes at these championship series events.”

Ephraim Serrette, president of the NAAA, also encouraged people to attend the meets and not just wait to watch the TT athletes on television. “People sit at home and watch the World Relays. They see (Machel) Cedenio, they see all the big guys, but you can home at the stadium and see them in person. In Trinidad we like a lot of things free, people don’t want to pay.”

Christopher Aird, brand specialist, sponsorship and event execution at Republic Bank, said the bank always wants to help TT’s youth. “Sport has been tried, tested and proven as an excellent tool for self development and realisation of the tremendous potential held within our youth. And competitive events like the NAAA Championships Series are invaluable opportunities for our track and field athletes to deepen that personal development and to progress even further in their skills and talents, and their sporting careers.”

Some of the other sponsors of the championship series are Blue Waters, Kenson Group of Companies, Sport Company of TT, Puma, Sunshine Snacks and the Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs.