Carenage Police Youth Club joins forces with TTSA

The Carenage Police Youth Club (CPYC) joined forces with the TT Sailing Association (TTSA) in designing and executing a sailing programme that began last week for the youths of Carenage.

President of the CPYC Angel Sylvester said, “We partnered with the (TTSA) to formulate a programme where 20 of our children (8-12 years and 13+) were selected to do a sailing course. In the programme, they will also learn to swim, life skills, repairs boats among other things. It was something we wanted to do for a while now because of where we are situated in Carenage.”

Commenting on the programme, she said, “It will be ongoing as they meet every Tuesday and Thursday at TTSA in Chaguaramas. The participants will benefit because swimming is a sport every child should do because it is a life-skill. Sailing is beneficial because it is a career choice that they are exposed to especially those who are not academically inclined. It’s a good way to occupy their time as the sky is the limit with this sport.”

She continued, “A lot of the youths in Carenage are more inclined to football so this is an alternative. Another benefit of the programme is that they are always supervised in a safe place. Nowadays, we cannot have the youths not meaningfully engaged because shootings can happen anytime in Carenage. Anything we can find for them is good; any sport or program once it is a safe place for them to be occupied.”

Sylvester is elated about the feedback received from the children as well as the support shown by the parents.

She added, “This is the first time that I can admit that we are getting parental support because on Thursday we had parents volunteering to be on site and assisting in providing refreshments. Some of the parents are interested in the program as well so we don’t want to limit it to the children alone.”