– Advertisement –
By Neto Baptiste
An estimated 300 young athletes will compete in the Antigua and Barbuda Athletic Association’s (ABAA) National Youth Championships slated for May 17-18 at the YASCO Sports Complex.
This is according to coach and an executive member of the association, Jamille Nelson, who said registration numbers span various primary schools and athletic clubs.
“The registration is already closed and we have a total of about 290 to 300 athletes competing from 16 clubs and schools combined. If we go to a zone championships we would have about seven to 10 schools competing from each zone and that’s four zones. So if all those four zones should come together and there is still the under-15 age groups, we have secondary schools who would have under-15 athletes that are included in that and added to the eight clubs as well,” he said.
The two-day event, which will race off at 11 am on both days, is being revived after eight years of absence. Nelson said the association felt compelled to bring the competition back taking into consideration, the overwhelming response to their recent grassroots initiatives.
“The last edition was 2017 and for other various reasons like the track being ripped up in 2018, and we even still have the medals and trophies from that meet that was supposed to have happened in 2018, so we just thought it was about time. Our juniors have been participating at the development meets and they would have run in the national senior championships at the end of the season but we just needed a time for them to shine. Also, with the grassroots programme that we started last year covering different zones and areas of the island, we just thought it right to have this competition so we could bring them all together to compete,” he said.
Athletes will compete in various events in the under-9, under-11, under-13 and under-15 categories. Admission to the event is $10.
About The Author
– Advertisement –
