media_artricles :: 2014

NGC pump $2.3M into athletics

The National Gas Company (NGC) yesterday announced a Memorandum of Agreement with the National Association of Athletics Administration (NAAA), pumping $2,330,000 for one year. The announcement was made by Cassandra Patrovani Sylvester, VP, Human and Corporate Relation, NGC, at a press conference held at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Mucurapo.

The funding will be directed specifically towards governance, elite high performance athletes, administration and development programmes for coaches and volunteers.

“I am excited about NGC’s ongoing partnership with the NAAA because of what it means to us as a sporting nation. In that context, NGC doesn’t just see this as a sponsorship, but an opportunity to foster a spirit of patriotism,” she said.

Sylvester, whose company is also involved in sponsoring cricket, revealed that they have seen the need to give the NAAA a boost to help them in the delivery of their programmes and

Ephraim Serrette, president of the NAAA, expressed gratitude to the NGC for “showing that confidence in the sport of track and field.”

He revealed that NGC will now be the title sponsor of the 2014 Juvenile and Junior National Championships “where our future Olympians and World champions come from.” He noted that the NGC will also be co- title sponsors at the Open Championships.

“I think this would take the NAAA in a particular direction - a direction that we have been working hard and as I indicated, we are very thankful to the Government of Trinidad and Tobago through the Ministry of Sport and Sport Company who have been working with us. But we have been suffering because of limitations....Our annual budget for 2014 is roughly $8million so we had to scale that down based on our contribution,” he said.

“This MOA will allow us to really achieve a lot more than we would have expected...This is a step in the right direction for track and field — the sport that continuously delivers for Trinidad and Tobago on the international stage,” the NAAA boss concluded.

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