The closing for the inaugural Primary School Super National took place this afternoon and there were hundreds of medals distributed to the primary school athletes.
We spoke with the Minister of State in the Ministry of Youth and Sports and the deputy Director of Programs for the National Sports Council on the success of the tournament.
Kaya Cattouse, Deputy Director of Programs, National Sports Council
"The inaugural Super Nationals, as was held over the 2 days in Belize City, which saw student-athletes-the best student-athletes in 4 disciplines from across the country, being football, volleyball, basketball, and kids' athletics-was definitely a success. We definitely saw exceptional talent from all districts, and I think we are very proud of the product that we have here."
Devin Daly, Minister of State at the Ministry of Youth and Sports
"In participating and competing, ultimately what we want to do as the ministry, from the Ministry of Youth and Sports, is that we want to invest in our young people who are actually showing us that they want a better future. So we are following them, and first of all, we have created a baseline, a catalogue of student-athletes who are excelling in their discipline-in their particular disciplines-and then we are just trying to find a way to hold their hands up all the way from this level all the way up to tertiary, with all the support that they need along with their families."
"It's about 420-something students, student-athletes for primary school, 580 for high school, all condensed within a 2-week span, and we are getting the data that we rightfully need at NSC so we can find out who are the athletes excelling in their disciplines. So this is going to be where the national team process starts; this is going to be where the district tournaments start, because now we can identify properly the athletes. And this has been a collaboration with the federations, grassroots community coaches-we are trying to bring together all the stakeholders involved in youth and sports so that we can get the best possible product."
The overall winners for the past 2 days in Volleyball, Basketball, Football and Kids Athletics were from Cayo, Belize and Toledo.
