The track and field sport season may have concluded, but the Vita Malt initiative which seeks to encourage students to become more involved in sports continues as the focus moves to Squash in St Vincent and the Grenadines.

The Vita Malt Junior National Championships were held at the National Squash Centre on April 13- 15.

There were exciting matches and National titles were awarded.

Sixty-one matches were played across eight categories: boys under 11, 13, 15, 17 and 19, and girls under 13, 15 and 19.

Each category competed in round robin format and each participant had the choice of competing in a maximum of two age categories for which they are eligible.

The national champions emerging from this year’s Junior Championships were Savante Padmore, Caeli George, Ciara George, Jayden George, Nadira Morgan, and Jaydon Williams. We saw Devere James winning the sportsmanship award and Naira-Sky John was awarded the most improved player.

Our Vita malt focus this week is on Jayden George and Jaydon Williams.

Jayden George is a Form 2 student at the St Vincent Grammar School. Jayden started playing squash in 2016 at six years old. In 2018, he placed 3rd in the boys under 11 categories at the Junior Caribbean Squash Championships in Jamaica, Jayden also placed 1st in the boys under 11 categories at the Hilton Barbados Junior Open in Barbados of that same year. The following year Jayden Place 1st in the boys under 11 categories at the Junior Caribbean Squash Championships held in Trinidad, giving him the title of Caribbean Squash Champion in 2019.

After a two-year break due to the Covid pandemic Squash Tournaments resumed in 2022, Jayden Placed 1st in boys under 13 categories at the Junior Caribbean Squash Championships in Guyana, making him once again the Caribbean Champion.

Jaydon Williams is also a St Vincent Grammar School student currently in 4th form. He started his Squash Career in 2017 at the age of nine. In that same year Jaydon made it to the Top 8 in the Junior Caribbean Squash Championships held in Guyana. In 2018 he placed 2nd in the boys under 11 Junior Caribbean Squash Championships held in Jamaica, in that same year, he placed 2nd in Boys under 13 Hilton Barbados Open. In 2019 Jaydon placed 3rd in the under 13 Junior Caribbean Squash Championships held in Trinidad

After a break in 2020-2021 because of the Covid pandemic, Jaydon placed 1st in boys under-15 category at Junior Caribbean Championships held in Guyana in 2022 giving him the title of Caribbean Champion. Jaydon has consistently won the National Junior boys’ overall championships since 2017.