media_artricles :: 2015

Focus on youth

NGC Right On Track programme expands

“Let us focus on the athletes and the young people, and let us take a back seat and let them be the spotlight.”

True to his words, Minister of Sport and Youth Affairs Darryl Smith thrust a young, talented basketballer into the spotlight at yesterday's National Gas Company (NGC) Right on Track development programme media launch, at the Radisson Hotel in Port of Spain.

Fourteen-year-old Adam Tang Nian was equal to the task, the Fatima College pupil giving an inspiring story of how he shrugged off the pain of a broken hand to return to the Digicel NBA Jumstart Basketball Clinic, in September.

Young athletes like Tang Nian have been the focus of Right On Track throughout its 16-year history. At yesterday's launch, NGC's corporate communications manager, Christine Punnett spoke about the programme.

“Since its inception in 1999, the Right On Track development programme has benefitted more than 15,000 participants in 105 communities and eight institutions; it has trained 88 coaches and it has formed and/or restored seven sport clubs. Its impact is attested by the many coaches who have seen results in the form of improved athletic ability, pride in achievement and character development.”

Right On Track initially focused on track and field, but later incorporated basketball. Both National Association of Athletics Administrations (NAAA) president Ephraim Serrette and National Basketball Federation of Trinidad and Tobago (NBFTT) president Garvin Warwick attended the media launch.

“The success of these organisations at developing their respective sports,” Punnett explained, “has been an impetus for NGC to deepen our relationships, so as to grow the reach of the Right On Track Programme.

“Today, I am pleased to announce that NGC will be extending the parameters of its partnership with these organisations through collaboration on the NAAA's Kids Athletic Programme and the NBFTT's Mini to Masters Programme. Both these initiatives embody the spirit and capture the intent of Right On Track and we are excited about the possibilities they present.”

Warwick said women's basketball will be a direct beneficiary of NGC's involvement in the sport.

“We will now be able to develop core female basketballers, and not have to share our talent with netball which has been the case for years.”

NGC's support of track and field goes beyond the Right On Track programme.

“Part of the intervention by the NGC,” Serrette explained, “allows for six athletes, three female and three male, to be given assistance for preparation.”

Punnett heaped praises on 1976 Olympic 100 metres champion Hasely Crawford, founder of the NGC Right On Track programme.

“On July 24th 1976, a young man from San Fernando carried the hope of a nation on winged feet past the finish line in Montreal, Canada to claim gold for his country at the Olympic Games. Mr Hasely Crawford, seated unassumingly among us this morning, did more than just outrun his competitors that day. Through the countless accolades that followed on the heels of his achievement, he proved to Trinidad and Tobago that sport held a wellspring of potential for national development and recognition, that it was a viable and rewarding career option and it deserved greater investment.

“These, ladies and gentlemen, were fundamental reasons behind the conceptualisation and implementation of the NGC Right On Track development programme in 1999, spearheaded by none other than the man himself—Mr Hasely Crawford—then Head of Community Relations at NGC.”

Minister Smith said Crawford continues to be relevant in the growth of sport in T&T.

“Mr Crawford, I've been a huge fan. You've been doing a fantastic job as a model citizen of Trinidad and Tobago. I want to commend you for that, and the Ministry of Sport will be leaning heavily on you for advice.”

Smith added that there will also be consultation with other past T&T sporting greats.

At nine a.m., on Saturday, the NGC Right On Track Coaching Caravan rolls into the Esmeralda Ground, in Cunupia.

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