By :Curtis Morton
The second annual Skipping festival hosted by the St. Thomas’ Primary school, was held at the school’s premises on Friday 18th November.
During the brief opening ceremony, which commenced with a prayer and the singing of the national anthem, Headmistress Mrs. Norlene Smithen thanked main sponsor of the event, Premier Vance Amory for his contribution for the second year running. She wished each school team well and asked the participating children to have fun.
Chief Coordinator of the event and Sports officer at the school, Eddy Richards –Caines, congratulated the top boy and girl from last year and saluted the winning school and defending champions, St. Thomas’ Primary school.
Immediately after the opening ceremony, the competing students took their ropes and took to the center of the auditorium a the school, where they showcased their skipping skills, which were judged on coordination, duration of the skipping round in terms of exact time and innovations.
The participating schools were: Elizabeth Pemberton Primary; Jocelyn Liburd Primary; Charlestown Primary; VOJN, Ivor Walters and St. Thomas’ Primary.
The schools’ representatives competed as teams and also as individuals. They used several variations which included the straightforward mode of skipping; skipping and turning right around in the process; utilizing two ropes between two individuals and skipping at the same time; skipping backwards and other unique styles.
At the end of the festival, all of the athletes received participation certificates for their efforts. These were presented by wife of Premier Amory, Mrs. Vernie Amory.
The top prizes for the day were awarded as follows:
Best girl-Aniela Fyfield-JLPS-3 minutes and 39 seconds-new record
Best boy-Tiarri Sargeant-
1st St. Thomas’ Primary school-champions-214 points
2nd-EPPS-205 points
3rd –VOJN-199 points
4th –IWPS-188 points
5th –JLPS-183 points
6th-CPS—168 points
It means therefore that the St. Thomas’ Primary school successfully defended its championship from last year.