CATEGORY:YOUTH DEVELOPMENT
------------------------------

By Trevor Thwaites (St.George's correspondent)


ST.GEORGE’S, Grenada: Approximately 1050 nationals are participating in the Holiday Recreation Programme, now into its second week. 1,000 young and aspiring sports personalities and 50 coaches are involved in the exercise, which has been revised after a six-year absence. It seeks to get the many youngsters who are home on the long summer holidays into meaningful activities that will benefit themselves and the country in the future.

Four Corporate Companies have joined the Grenada Olympic Committee to revise the programme – RBBT and Cooperative Banks, George F Huggins and Company Grenada Limited and the Grenada National Lottery. The programme, which began Monday July 10th and ends the week before Carnival is costing the Olympic Committee EC$32,000. President of the Committee,Royston Lahee, praised the Corporate Sponsors for their support and said that he looks forward to others coming on board next year to make it more successful.

Secretary of the Olympic Committee Veda Bruno Victor said that they have been working with the various sporting associations to spreads the promotion of the programme far a wide across the country to include most of the disciplines that are being played in Grenada. Track and Field, Swimming, Netball, Table Tennis, Football, Boxing, Lawn Tennis and Taekwando are the disciplines being promoted during the four-week period, which the organizers see as crucial to the advancement of the country’s sports.

Lahee said that after a pretty long break the Olympic Committee is moving to make the event an annual affair with the generous support of corporate sponsors. Olympic Solidarity provided US$8,000 for the EC$32,000 dollar Programme. The Corporate Sponsors provided the remainder. Some of the funds were used the purchase equipment for the initiative that were distributed to coaches during the launching ceremony. A stipend is also being provided to the coaches for their valuable contribution.