Youth development activities top 2013 sports calendar |12 February 2013

Various schools sports initiation programmes have been scheduled in support of the Physical Education and School Sports (PESS) initiative, which is in line with the ongoing revision in the local sports structure to ensure necessary structures are put into place to properly carry out and monitor the delivery of the national school sport programme.
These programmes will be jointly carried out by the ministries responsible for sports and education respectively.

International competitions, presenting the young athletes with the opportunities to measure their strength at both regional and continental level also feature on the calendar.
This will begin on April 19-20 with the second Track and Field Schools Invitational Meet athletics competition which will feature Seychelles secondary schools and the International School of Kenya (ISK).

Seychelles will be represented by young athletes from the seven best performing secondary schools during the 2012 National Schools Athletics Championship, while the technical aspect of the competition will be the responsibility of the local athletics body. The athletes will compete in the under 14, under 16, under 18 and under 20 groups.
Also in April, a group of young local athletes will compete in the 5th Jeux de l’Espoir in Mauritius, while in May, the badminton tournament of the Commission de la Jeunesse et des Sports de l'Océan Indien (CJSOI) will be held locally at the La Promenade Gymnasium.

The 8th Jeux de la Francophonie which will take place in September in Nice, France will also be an opportunity for the country’s young athletes to measure their skills at world level.
Other than the youth, the NSC’s calendar of activities for 2013 also caters for disabled. In that aspect, a sports-for-the-disabled workshop will be held at the Roche Caïman sports complex, with the aim of setting up a local workable structure for paralympics.

Enthusiasts from the inner islands will also have the chance to be active through Sports For All activities which will include the crazy challenges on Praslin and La Digue. The Eco-friendly runs organised by the Eco-friendly committee will also be a great opportunity for inner island involvement.

Collaboration with various partners will also continue during 2013 with the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the NSC, the Seychelles Cricket Association and the Ministry of Land Use and Habitat for the construction and operation of an international cricket field.

The NSC will continue with its training programme through the Sports Training Centre, giving more training to coaches and all those involved in sports management.

It will also promote the national theme – Striving for our Seychelles – and charitable causes through its annual unity relay which will close the calendar of activities.

R. D.