BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - THE Department of Sports has reintroduced the Zonal Championships for primary schools around the island of St. Kitts.
Confirmation of this move came during a recent press conference, where it was announced that the Department would be scouting to locate some of the top talents from the primary school level with the aim of harnessing them at the level of the Sports Department.
Track and Field Coordinator in the Department of Sport Timothy Morton explained that the event would also assist the schools in gaining revenue from the gates as well as the competitions.
“Ultimately, we also see this as an opportunity for revenue to be generated to improve each school’s sports programme, as gate receipts will be divided amongst participating schools.”
Director of Sports Anthony Wiltshire noted that the reintroduction of the event would give young athletes the opportunity to further showcase their talent, as well as the platform to further harness their skills before the major inter-school meets.
The Director explained that between inter-house competitions and national championships, athletes are starved for competition and, as such, reintroduction of the event is timely.
“Added to that, the parents are at a disadvantage because they are only able to see their children perform on their individual school sports meets, and then they come to the Rams Primary School Championship…and unfortunately some of these parents are not able to attend some of these meets.
“So we thought this would be an ideal opportunity to keep these within the specific areas so that parents would be better able to view these meets and also the children would have more opportunities,” noted Wiltshire.
The Department of Sports officials reiterated that the event is not a qualifier for the national championship and is a stand-alone event.
In addition, when asked by reporters how this event would fit into the schools’ curriculum, it was noted that the event would be held around the sports days and would not interfere with the academics.
The Sports Department noted that the Zonal Championships are divided into four meets and would consist of over 200 junior athletes.
The first meet was the Basseterre Zone held on January 17, while the East 1 will be held on Friday, January 24, the West Zone on February 2 and the East Zone 2 on February 6.
