Young swimmer Andre Sandy of Point Fortin R.C. and runner Christie Marie Maharaj of Pine Haven Seventh Day Adventist School (D’Abadie) walked away with the highest honours as Male and Female Champion respectively at the Atlantic Youth Excellence in Sport (YES) Awards held today (Mar 14, 2018) at the Trinidad Hilton.
Nigel Darlow, CEO, Atlantic congratulated awardees and nominees alike, commending them on their unwavering commitment to sport and their own development in and out of the classroom. He explained that Atlantic and its sports League partners are part of the national effort to create a nurturing environment that helps to develop the heroes of the next generation.
“The YES Awards recognise the performance of heroes, but perhaps much more importantly, they reward the values that that live inside the hearts of heroes. Those values are what the YES Awards are really about and they are a big part of Atlantic’s commitment to facilitating youth development through our sporting programs,” Darlow said.
The YES Awards acknowledges the sporting excellence displayed in the five sporting disciplines of the national primary school leagues that Atlantic supports: track & field, cricket, swimming, football and triathlon. Keshorn Walcott, Trinidad & Tobago Olympian and Atlantic Sports Ambassador presented the awards to the Male and Female Champions and personally congratulated each on their sporting accomplishments.
Male Champion of the Year and swimmer, Andre Sandy had a remarkable 2017 with 1st place in four (4) local competitions including Atlantic Schools’ Invitational 2017, 3rd place at four other competitions and medaling three times at the Goodwill Swim Meet in Guyana (2 silver, 1 bronze). The other nominees were Nick Anderson Ramlal (cricket) – Montrose Government Primary School, Lindell Sween (football) – La Pastora Government Primary, Imanni Matthew (track & field) – Toco RC, and James Castagne-Hay (triathlon) – St. Andrew’s Private School.
Christie Marie Maharaj, Female Champion of the Year, carved a name for herself in athletics after earning the title of Victrix Ludorum at both St. George East District Games and the National Primary School Track & Field Championships. At the Championship, she also won the 200m, 400m and 1500m, and won the National Under-14 800m champion at the National Association of Athletics Administrations (NAAA) Juvenile Championship. Aby Bandoo (cricket) – Bonne Aventure Presbyterian, J’Eleisha Alexander (football) – Scarborough RC, Amelia Rajack (swimming) – St Peter’s Private Primary and Makaira Wallace (triathlon) – Dunross Preparatory School were also nominated for this award because of their outstanding performances.
The North Eastern Educational District won the Fair Play category as the team that most demonstrated the spirit in which sport should be played, edging out fellow nominee Tunapuna Presbyterian School. The Port of Spain and Environs team gained another accolade as the Team of the Year from their exceptional performance at the Atlantic Primary School Track & Field Championship. Gregory Johnson (football) and Kelvin Nancoo (track & field) were recognized as Administrator of the Year and Coach of the Year, respectively.