Sports

The children of the Stoney Ground/Caul’s Bottom area were treated to a day of fun and friendly sporting competition on Sunday September 9th 2007.

On August 29, five delegates from the Anguilla Tennis Academy travelled to New York to attend the 2007 US Open Championships. The US Open is one of the four major grand slam tournaments and the last one of the year. The previous year, both Mitch Lake and Jason Allen attended the tournament and decided that it would be a great professional development opportunity for the ATA staff so that they could become more familiar with the tennis industry at all levels of play.

The overall winners in the Health Authority of Anguilla Golf Classic Tournament over the weekend were Jim Filaroski, Mark Filaroski, Read Davis and Doug Leason who represented Comp.Nation and McGriff, Sible and Williams.

The Anguilla Football Association Annual Soccer Camp was another resounding success. Over one Hundred kids between the ages of 3-17 years, flocked the park each day between the hours of 9-12 am from 13th to 24th August.

Anguillian Giordan Connor, now a highly qualified university graduate, is a fine example of how an ambitious young man, who started out as a footballer, can make it to the top of the ladder in education through sheer hard work and dedication.

Three weeks ago, the new courts at the Anguilla Tennis Academy’s facility in Blowing Point were inaugurated and thus the annual summer camp began. With a plethora of highly trained coaches and youth leaders, the quality of this year’s camp has indubitably been augmented and it shows in the progress of the children. Because of the large number of children participating, a number which exceeds 230, the ATA staff hopes to continue to propel tennis as a sport to be reckoned with not only in Anguilla, but in the Caribbean. Among the large number of students, 60 are members of the After School Program and have shown significant improvement not only in the camp, but throughout the year.

Young Anguillian will be travelling to Japan on August 18 for the World Championship Games. He is fresh from his Pan American Junior debut in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where he lowered the National Junior Records in the 100m and 200m which were at 11.16 and 22.65. Both records were held by Athlee Ruan. The new records are now 11.02 and 22.31 which are now Rogers’ best.

The Anguillian visited the beautiful Temenos Golf Club on Tuesday, July 31 to speak with its directors about the junior golf programme that is coming to a close. All three golf instructors, PGA Professional Hale Kelly, PGA Apprentice Josh Shepard and Bernie Morgan were wearing their Anguilla Junior Golf shirts and were very much enthused about the final day as it was a chance to recognize the children for their hard work as well as see them compete. The Troon Golf Staff, under the direction and leadership of PGA Professional Dana Schmid, implemented a structured player development program for the duration of the month long camp.

On an afternoon of fun and entertainment, sportsmanship reigned over the competing teams of the first ever CCB Trendsetters Domino Competition. Opposing teams such as the Police and Stars both fell victims to the Lions who made quick work of their opponents.

The recently-concluded Volleyball Business League has been marked with the award of trophies to the winning teams.

Flag Luxury Properties/St. Regis presented the Road Primary School with a check for US$14,600 from the first annual Road Primary School Golf Tournament. These funds will all go towards the Flag/St. Regis and Road Primary School partnership we have created to improve their overall learning environment.

Digicel, the Caribbean’s leading mobile provider, and the West Indies Cricket Board, announced today that it will enter a new extended partnership arrangement until September 2012 that will provide the support that West Indies cricket needs to further establish their position as a dominant cricketing force.

The Anguilla Pony Baseball Team left Wallblake Airport on Tuesday afternoon for Puerto Rico to participate in competitive matches there with other teams.

A Domino Tournament played just around the corner and across the road from Ev’s Oven Restaurant at South Hill and involving four teams – the Police, the Warriors of Stoney Ground, the Stars of North Side and the St. Maarten team-came to an exciting finish last Sunday, July 8. The Champion Cup was won by the Bute Hotel Boys of St. Maarten.

On Saturday, June 23rd, Temenos Golf Club hosted the first annual Road Primary School Golf Tournament. The tournament attracted 95 players for a wonderful day of golf. The Road Primary School students started off the day with the National Song for all the golfers. Throughout the day, the teachers, students and parents of the school assisted the Temenos & Zurra staff with Breakfast and lunch set-up, serving and clean-up. They were all so excited to be a part of the event that they spent the entire day at the golf course thanking the golfers for the generous donations. The Golf Tournament raised US$14,600 for the school and the check will be presented to Teacher Ornette and the entire campus next week. These funds will all go towards the Flag/St. Regis and Road Primary School partnership we have created to improve their overall learning environment.

The Anguilla Swarming Fire Ants are on their way to Cuba. The Anguilla U-20 female footballers defeated the St. Kitts Sugar Girls by a score of 2 goals to 1 in the return leg of the CONCACAF U-20 qualifying competition. In a thrilling and keenly contested encounter the Fire Ants stunned the large crowd, at the New Town Playing Field, when Kennisha Xavier struck home the first goal as early as the 12th minute. St. Kitts equalized 10 minutes later to send their enthusiastic supporters into ecstasy. At half time the score was dead lock at one goal each with St. Kitts enjoying the better part of the half.

At a press conference held at the cricket pitch in Blowing Point on Wednesday, June 20 at 8:30, Mr. Mitchell Lake spoke about plans to build sports facilities in the Blowing Point Community. Mr. Lake is the founder of the Anguilla Tennis Academy, which is currently nearing completion. Heavy equipment was brought in for the removal of the various trees on the six acres of land acquired by Government. On this land, there will be a cricket field, football field, a basketball court and a community centre located underneath the stands.

The sixty plus children (ages 5 – 13 years old) who attend the Sunset Homes –Roaring Lions Youth Training Program and their coaches were enthused as they received their new football uniforms this month. This youth training initiative is a partnership between the sponsor Sunset Homes and the Roaring Lions Football Team which provides the coaches to run the program.

At the Telecoms House, the building which houses the corporate offices of Cable and Wireless Anguilla, a briefing was done on Tuesday, June 26, to announce that Cable and Wireless will once again be the Platinum Sponsor of the famed John T Memorial Race. Mrs. Avon Carty, Corporate Communications Manager, presented the check to members of the Anguilla Amateur Cycling Association in the amount of USD $5,360. As the CEO of C&W, Mr. Sutcliffe Hodge, was off island, Mr. Larry Stott spoke in his stead, “Cable and Wireless is proud once again to be affiliated with the John T. Memorial Race. We are committed to sponsoring this event for some time in the future as we understand that cycling is one of the sports that a lot of people like to come out and enjoy and we anticipate that this year’s race will be an exciting one as we have riders coming in from many countries to participate.”

Wartsila Caribbean made a significant contribution to the completion of the Anguilla Tennis Academy (ATA) on Wednesday, June 27th. Vice President of Wartsila, Mr. Rodney George, said this contribution came about as a result of the company’s association with ANGLEC. In 2000 they were contracted to install two 3.1 megawatt generators at the Corito Power Station. On successful completion of that contract, the company donated US$15,000 to a worthwhile social project. A second project was undertaken in 2006 and at completion Wartsila decided to make another community contribution. The end result of this association was that the ATA would be the recipient of a cheque in the amount of US$13,325.00. Mr. George said that the donation was in keeping with Wartsila’s Corporate Policy of supporting worthwhile social projects in the communities where business is conducted throughout the Caribbean.