Presentation S’do cricket team honoured at Prize Day

YANNICK QUINTAL

PRESENTATION COLLEGE San Fernando held its annual Prize Day ceremony, on Friday. The annual event recognises the academic and co-curricular achievements of students for the year. The school’s cricket team was one of the day’s highlights.

In 2019, Presentation College’s cricket team were almost invincible. The team were able to capture the Flow National T10 title, the South Zone Under-14 and U-16 title, the National U-16 title, the National Championship and the South Championship title which earned them promotion to the Premiership Division for the 2019-2020 season – the first time in 26 years that they will play top flight schools cricket.

Principal Dexter Mitchell praised the cricket team on their stellar achievements.

“...the 2018-19 season, however, belonged to cricket. For the first time in our school’s history, we qualified to be in the Premier Division. Special thanks for all our cricketers led by Tariq Mohammed; we are proud of all you. For your efforts, you have earned a place in the annals of Presentation history and will all earn the Principal’s Medal, an award reserved for those who excelled at the national, regional and international level.”

Senior team captain Tariq Mohammed and U-14 team captain Nickyle Jalim were also selected for the national youth team. Along with the Principal’s Medal, Mohammed was also recognised by the school as the Outstanding All-Round Cricketer, Senior Sportsman of the Year and for Excellence in Academics and Sport. He spoke on his achievements emphasising that it is not about the accolades for him but the impact for Presentation’s cricket now and going forward.

“It means a lot. It’s not something I really look forward to because I didn’t do it for the recognition but the biggest achievement in this is gaining the Premiership promotion, winning six titles in a year, those things are the biggest recognition for me. Personally, it means a lot that they could see all the hard work that has paid off. I didn’t do it for me, probably for the younger fellas coming down the line to remember to never give up. ‘God’s delays are not God’s denials’ that’s a quote I live by, just keep pushing, keep going and you’ll never know what good can happen to you.”

Nickyle Jalim and Sanjay Jawahir were also recognised as Junior and Senior Cricketers of the Year. Jalim talked about being recognised by his school for his cricketing achievements as well as being a part of the future of Presentation cricket.

“Well as a cricketer coming up in your school, it means a lot. It’s not something you look forward to. You just go out there, put in your work and represent your college with all the pride you could. And Presentation College being a prestigious school, winning out all the titles and stuff is something amazing that you could achieve.

“So, representing the college is a really amazing thing to do and I just go out there and do the best I can and make everyone proud.”

Other Principal’s Medal winners included Michael Frost for Kayaking – he placed first in the Maritime Ortoire River Race (7km short course title); Nathan Griffith for Karate – he won multiple medals across four Karate tournaments in the Caribbean, including three gold and three silver medals in Guyana, bronze medals in the Dominican Republic and Curaçao and a gold and silver medal at Nationals; and Ziyshan Abdool who placed first in the Gymnastics Caribbean Championships as the Top Male Level 6 Gymnast.

Other notable awardees include former Presentation College goalkeeper Jabari Gray for Footballer of the year and Jaiyé Sheppard for Outstanding Footballer (Under-16).