Some Barbadian sportsmen will take centre stage on Saturday, January 30, when the National Sports Council (NSC) hosts the 27th annual awards ceremony at the Frank Collymore Hall.
Secretary General of the Jamaica Olympic Committee and Area Representative for the Americas of the International Association of Athletics Federations, Neville "Teddy" McCook, will deliver the feature address.
Chairman of the NSC, Henry Inniss, told the media today that a significant number of young athletes had won awards, the majority of them emerging from the Council’s programmes. "This fits in well with our strategy, where we are aiming to develop the youth and work in a number of areas to enhance Barbados’ competitiveness at the international level," Mr. Inniss said.
Chairman of the Awards Committee, Andrew Sealy, disclosed that 19 awards would be presented during the night, including the Sports Administrator Award, the Media Award, Coach of the Year Award and the Youth Award.
Mr. Inniss appealed to the national associations to submit additional information which would help the Council finalise the selection of award winners for this year. He stated: "We’ve done a significant amount of work already in that area and we just have a small amount to do."??????
Mr. Sealy added: "We want to ensure we encompass as many individuals, clubs and schools as possible and hence, the chairman’s comment relative to the assistance from the associations and the clubs. We find that the associations, when asked for information, sometimes are quite tardy and we just want to re-emphasise that it is important that you submit the information to us because it allows us to ensure that the correct individuals are given the awards…
"It is critical that you get on board to ensure that when the national awards are given in all the various categories, individuals who are most deserving receive them."
The Chairman of the Awards Committee promised that the ceremony at month-end would be of a high quality. "… It is important that a ceremony for sportsmen should befit the quality and status they have achieved in their performance levels," he remarked.