RACHAEL THOMP­SON-KING

rachael.king@guardian.co.tt

Sprint­ers Shani­qua Bas­combe and Tyrel Ed­wards will fea­ture at the Na­tion­al Sec­ondary Schools Track and Field Cham­pi­onships which will have an in­ter­na­tion­al feel. This ac­cord­ing to the pres­i­dent of the T&T Sec­ondary Schools Track and Field As­so­ci­a­tion (TTSST­FA) Joseph Brew­ster at the launch of the event yes­ter­day at Olympic House on Aber­crom­by Street in Port-of-Spain.

Ac­tion in the TTSST­FA two-day meet starts to­day at the Hase­ly Craw­ford Sta­di­um in Port-of-Spain from 10 am with a walk past of all par­tic­i­pat­ing schools and con­tin­ues to­mor­row, be­gin­ning at the same time.

"We are try­ing to get as close to Carif­ta, close to in­ter­na­tion­al stan­dard as pos­si­ble so that when our stu­dents go out and face com­pe­ti­tion in the Carif­ta Games or in oth­er com­pe­ti­tions, they would have al­ready tast­ed some sort of au­then­tic com­pe­ti­tion here," said Brew­ster on the re­vamped for­mat of the meet to help pro­pel young lo­cal ath­letes in­to their re­spec­tive ca­reers.

"We have a cou­ple of changes and im­prove­ments this year to the Cham­pi­onships we un­der­stand that the sprints in Trinidad are very high pro­file and they are very well pop­u­lat­ed so this year we are pro­vid­ing ex­tra space for the 100, 200 and 400 across all age groups. To qual­i­fy for the fi­nal of the sprints we have three semi­fi­nals, the first two per­sons in any race will go di­rect­ly in­to the fi­nal and the two fastest losers across the races, they will go to the fi­nal.

"In the field events, each stu­dent/ath­lete will be giv­en their nor­mal three throws, then from ninth place go back will be elim­i­nat­ed and the top eight will get in that ex­tra throw."

He hopes by do­ing this, it will in­crease the depth of stu­dent tal­ent by in­creas­ing the num­ber of par­tic­i­pants in the mar­quee events like the 100m, 200m, the long jump and javelin and give them ex­po­sure to scouts.

On show will be Bas­combe of St James Sec­ondary School, Natasha Fox of Point Fortin West Sec­ondary and Ma­li­ka Coutain of Ves­signy Sec­ondary. The trio was joint Vic­trix Lu­do­rum in the Cham­pi­onships last year. De­fend­ing cham­pi­on school To­co Sec­ondary, which Ed­wards at­tends, will be back, hop­ing to re­tain its ti­tle.

Brew­ster thanked the Min­istry of Ed­u­ca­tion and the Na­tion­al As­so­ci­a­tion of Ath­let­ics Ad­min­is­tra­tion (NAAA) for their sup­port as well as peren­ni­al spon­sors Blue Wa­ters, SM Jaleel and Sun­shine Snacks and al­so praised new spon­sor Guardian Life of the Caribbean,

"Word com­ing out from the NAAAs is that times and dis­tances will be looked at very close­ly for Carif­ta qual­i­fi­ca­tion," said Brew­ster.

Flow Sports will present a de­layed broad­cast of the Cham­pi­onships, which will see ath­letes com­pete in the Un­der-13, U-15, U-17 and 17 and over age-groups.

At the launch were Shelly Slater, Min­istry of Ed­u­ca­tion Cur­ricu­lum Of­fi­cer - Phys­i­cal Ed­u­ca­tion and Sport, Janelle Ed­wards sec­ond vice pres­i­dent TTSST­FA, Arnold Ram­per­sad, TTSST­FA pub­lic re­la­tions of­fi­cer and trea­sur­er Dr Phillip Al­lard.

En­try is free to stu­dents in uni­form and for the pub­lic, ad­mis­sion is $20.