Ten junior athletes benefit from NGC/NAAATT Youth Elite Programme

TEN of Trinidad and Tobago’s top junior track and field athletes took part in a special orientation session at the National Gas Company/National Association of Athletics Administrations (NGC/NAAATT) Youth Elite Programme (YEP) on Saturday.

At the Ato Boldon Stadium in Couva, YEP technical coordinator Ian Carter shared pertinent information and engaged in a highly interactive session with attendees, which included parents and coaches.

According to a NAAATT statement issued on Tuesday, this year’s athlete-participants were (girls) Shaniqua Bascombe, Gianna Paul, Janae DeGannes and Aniqah Bailey and (boys) Aaron Antoine, Avindale Smith, Savion Joseph, Jayden Scott, Shakeem McKay and Revelle Webster.

NAAATT president, George Comissiong, used the opportunity to remind those present of the rights and obligations of all stakeholders involved in the programme.

Athletes and coaches were later presented with copies of the NGC-NAAATT YEP handbook and packages with Puma sponsored training gear.

YEP is a development programme designed to provide strategic support to the country’s top-ten, high-performing junior athletes.

The NAAATT statement read, “Athletes in the programme benefit from a range of services including nutritional support, medical and rehabilitation services and specialized performance analysis and technical support.”

NGC has been sponsoring this programme since its inception in 2017. Numbered among the YEP’s several successful graduates are current national athletes Tyriq Horsford, Tyrell Edwards, Jalen Purcell, Rae Anne Serville, Jenea Spinks, and Ianna Roach.

Two other graduates, Akanni Hislop and Adell Colthrust, made their Olympic debut at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. “Additionally, seven of the eight (YEP) athletes who were eligible to compete at the 2022 Carifta did so with considerable success.“Some of them have already attained the qualification standards and are looking forward to representing our country at the upcoming Pan Am Under-20 Athletics Championships in Rio, Brazil and the World Athletics Under-20 Championships in Cali, Colombia,” the statement closed.