First NOC Sports Academy-a success

04.JAN.08

“The work has just begun. We want you to understand what you have experienced here and how you must utilise it to help you develop into whole persons, sportspersons, but whole persons, nonetheless”.

These words were spoken by General Secretary of the St Vincent and the Grenadines National Olympic Committee as he delivered an address to the 48 participating athletes at the brief closing ceremony for the Inaugural NOC National Sports Academy on Friday, 21 December, 2007.{{more}}

Athletes were involved in intense practical sessions that addressed their technical skill competencies in the respective sporting disciplines – Athletics, Boxing, Table Tennis and Volleyball.

Consistent with its mandate, the Academy also conducted sessions in Nutrition, Managing Sport Injuries, Chiropractic Care, Communications, Sports and Social Etiquette, Time Management, Psychology and Sports and the Environment. The Academy, which began on 17 December, saw the athletes and officials housed at Bay Hill Apartments, Sion Hill Bay, while the practical sessions for Athletics, Boxing and Volleyball were conducted at the Arnos Vale Sports Complex, and those for Table Tennis at the building that once housed the Government Printery in Kingstown.

“We are satisfied that our first attempt at a National Sports Academy has been so successful”. So said Coordinator of the Inaugural National Olympic Committee Sports Academy and Technical Director of Team Athletics St Vincent and the Grenadines (TASVG), Gideon Labban.

These sentiments were echoed by Technical Directors Marlon Williams (Volleyball), Sean Stanley (Table Tennis) and president of the Boxing Association, Winston Telesford.

The Cycling component of the NOC Sports Academy will be held the first week in January at the Bay Hill Apartments.

Joseph indicated that the NOC will work to ensure that the National Sports Academy becomes a fixture on its annual calendar.

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