Fitness gives you the winning edge!

Jun 05, 2015 News

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– Schools’ Physical Display National C/ships kick off
The Ministry of Education kicked off its Schools’ Physical Display National Championships 2015 at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall yesterday. The event which is held annually, but was originally a one-day affair, has now been expanded to two days. The competition ends today.
The programme started with a march past of schools, from most of the administrative regions, decked out in a variety of colours. This was followed by the Welcome and Opening Remarks delivered by Nicholas Fraser, Head of the Ministry’s Physical Education Department.
“This is the 16th annual championship for the independence celebrations…All the schools participating are champions of the regional championships held in February last. This year we expanded for the first time to a two-day event, prizes will be given to the best teams such as trophies, equipment and vouchers,” Fraser told the gathering.
Education Minister Dr. Rupert Roopnaraine, then made brief remarks before the competition got underway.
“This event, which began in 1992 for the Mashramani celebrations, has since grown… This year we will be focusing on our 50th Independence anniversary (in 2016) so this will be the beginning of a year-long preparation for a mega event”.
“Education is far more than what takes place in the classrooms but most importantly what happens outside of the classroom, in our homes etc… I intend to work with the programmes that worked well in the past and mend those that didn’t work that well”.
He added, “This is a test of your coordination, integration and physical skills… Our biggest problem is bringing everyone together to work in unity and build our nation as one, and this is what we intend to do, because this is nothing less than what our children deserve”.
The Minister then declared the event open.
No time was wasted, as the Primary School Jump rope participants took centre stage. Seven schools participated in this segment from regions two, five, six, seven, nine, 10 and Georgetown.
After some impressive performances, St Ignatius Primary of Region Nine emerged the winners with 141.5 points followed by Regma Primary of Linden with 119 points and St Pius Primary taking third place spot with 117.5.
The Secondary school’s presentation of combinations was nothing short of spectacular with schools from regions one, two, three, four, 10 and Georgetown providing an explosion of dexterity.
It was very close in the end, with the first and second place winners just 0.5 points apart.
St John’s Secondary with 123.5 points took the title, with Aurora Secondary coming in just behind with 123 points. Harmony Secondary of Region 10 was third with 117 points.
As the morning progressed it was time for the primary schools to show off to the judges, as they displayed their moves in the combinations (6-11) group category.
Regions two, three, four, five, six, 10 and Georgetown contested.
Regma Primary with ‘Razzmatazz’ emerged as top performers with 137 points over second place winners St Therese’s Primary whose ‘Bodies in Motion’ gave them 121.5 points. Third place was awarded to Kabakaburi Primary who gained 113 points with their ‘Body Fitness’.
A 90-second individual freestyle jump rope presentation for the primary level was presented to the judges with only five schools competing for the title.
St Pius Primary’s Akeisha White walked away with the title with 121 points. St Ignatius Primary’s representative took second with 109 points, while third place went to Regma Primary with 108.5 points.
Before the competition advanced to its final two categories for the day, a side attraction was provided by gymnasts from the Guyana Defence Force. Loud screams were heard from all around as ‘flying’ soldiers showed off their bodies and leaping skills in an effort to keep the crowd on their toes.
The pyramids competition then kicked off with President’s College who performed earlier in the morning to facilitate their examinations in the afternoon, which was the initial schedule.
Regions two, three, four, six, 10 and Georgetown all tried their best to win the hearts of the judges in the challenging division.
In the end, Aurora Secondary copped the title with 141 points. JC Chandisingh took second place with 129.5 points and St John’s Secondary secured third with 126 points.
To close off the first day’s activities was the ‘Last Man Standing’ freestyle competition. This was also a thrilling part of the programme which entailed skippers of each primary school in the competition to present five participants.
The large number soon became just a few as the majority were disqualified for stopping and the others because of being too tired to continue.
However the final three competitors were Regma Primary’s Amesha Charles and St Ignatius Primary’s Christi James and Joy Gomes who were all rewarded for their over 20 minutes of skipping.
The competition will conclude today at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall with the Secondary Schools Banks DIH Coca Cola skipping competition.

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