Sean Nero

SEAN NERO

Cougars Ath­let­ics Track and Field Club walked away with the li­on's share of awards when lo­cal en­er­gy com­pa­ny At­lantic held its Youth Ex­cel­lence in Sports (Yes) pre­sen­ta­tion cer­e­mo­ny at the Ball­room, Hilton Trinidad and Con­fer­ence Cen­tre, La­dy Young Road, Port-of-Spain, yes­ter­day.

Of the six com­pet­i­tive awards that were at stake, Cougars cap­tured three: Ad­min­is­tra­tor of the Year�Kelvin Nan­coo; Youth Cham­pi­on Fe­male�Caliyah Wal­lace, 12; and Youth Cham­pi­on�Male Ethan Forde, 12.

The achieve­ments of the club added to its ex­cel­lent sea­son en­joyed at Na­tion­al As­so­ci­a­tion of Ath­let­ics Ad­min­is­tra­tion (NAAA) 2014 awards func­tion, in which it copped a fourth con­sec­u­tive cham­pi­on ju­ve­nile club of the year award.

The ster­ling ef­forts of the club, its ad­min­is­tra­tors and ath­letes did not go un­no­ticed as the pan­el of sport ad­ju­di­ca­tors vot­ed in favour of the Cougars com­mit­ment to sports de­vel­op­ment and ath­lete ex­cel­lence.

The Youth Cham­pi­on Male award, how­ev­er, proved to be the most keen­ly con­test­ed cat­e­go­ry. The judges could not sep­a­rate the per­for­mance of Forde–Cougars Youth Ath­lete of the Year 2014 and crick­eter Joshua James of Whim An­gli­can Pri­ma­ry School of To­ba­go. In the end, the judges de­clared it a tie.

Foot­baller Antawan Williams, swim­mer Nick­oli Black­man and triath­lete Troy Llanos were the oth­er con­tenders for this award.

Forde was named Vic­tor Lu­do­rum at the Mi­lo Games 2014 hav­ing won the 100,200 and 400-me­tre events; the Port of Spain Ro­tary Games 2014; and the Na­tion­al Pri­ma­ry School Cham­pi­onship 2014. He was named Cham­pi­on Male Ath­lete of the Na­tion­al Pri­ma­ry School Games 2014 and the Caribbean Union of Teach­ers (C.U.T Games 2014). He won four gold medals as he an­chored his team�Port of Spain and En­vi­rons to vic­to­ry in the 4 by 100 me­tres re­lay.

These ac­com­plish­ments earned Forde the Cham­pi­on Male Ath­lete of the C.U.T Games 2014 and Sports­man of The Year by the Port of Spain and En­vi­rons Ed­u­ca­tion Dis­trict.

Mean­while, James, a crick­eter from To­ba­go, was a mem­ber of T&T U-13 and U-15 teams and was cap­tain of In­ter­school Cham­pi­ons. He scored 426 runs with an av­er­age of 106.5 and took 22 wick­ets.

Com­pet­ing suc­cess­ful­ly at var­i­ous games dur­ing 2014, Wal­lace was named Vic­trix Lu­do­rum in the U-13 cat­e­go­ry. From the Mi­lo Games where she won the 100, 200 and 400m events, she re­peat­ed these top per­for­mances at Port of Spain Ro­tary Games and the Na­tion­al Pri­ma­ry School Cham­pi­onship.

She emerged as the Most Out­stand­ing Ath­lete at the Na­tion­al Pri­ma­ry School Cham­pi­onship and amassed a to­tal of 30 point for three wins.

Wal­lace con­tin­ued her win­ning ways by se­cur­ing four gold medals at the PoS and En­vi­rons Games 4x100 me­tres re­lay; Caribbean Union of Teach­ers (CUT Games).

Wal­lace was named Fe­male Cham­pi­on Ath­lete of the CUT Games and was run­ner-up in the Sports­woman of the Year Award for the Port-of-Spain and En­vi­rons Ed­u­ca­tion Dis­trict and de­clared Sports­woman of the Year by her club Cougars.

The cat­e­go­ry Youth Cham­pi­on�Fe­male won by Wal­lace, was con­test­ed by Jayriel Charles, crick­et; Gamelia Wal­dron, foot­ball; Joy Black­ett, swim­ming and Jo­di Nieves triathlon.

The Ho­n­our Roll

Youth Cham­pi­on�Male–Ethan Forde, Joshua James

Youth Cham­pi­on�Fe­male–Caliyah Wal­lace

Ad­min­is­tra­tor of the Year–Kelvin Nan­coo

Fair Play–South East­ern Ed­u­ca­tion Dis­trict

Coach of the Year–Ter­rence Cae­sar

Team of the Year–Ari­ma Boys' RC Pri­ma­ry School

Recog­ni­tion Award in Jour­nal­ism

T&T Guardian Sport Desk?