Eight T&T athletes and officials will travel to the Pacific island nation of Samoa to compete at the fifth Commonwealth Youth Games from September 5-11. The squad, led by Chef de Mission Jeannette Small, will include Akanni Hislop and Akidah Briggs (Athletics) and Amira Pilgrim and Jeron Thompson (Swimming).
Thompson, a medalist at the 2015 CCCAN and CARIFTA meets, expressed his feelings on being selected to represent the country.
"At first, qualifying for Samoa, I was more stoked than thinking about even swimming and then through the process I realised that this is the biggest Games that I'm going to and I want to put something out there that really makes a statement for my name, he said."
On Thursday, Small met with the athletes and their parents to discuss travel logistics for the Games. In addition, the athletes were given a session on media interviews with T&T Olympic Committee staff members Rheeza Grant, Chanelle Young and NACRA 'Get Into Rugby' programme manager, Kwanieze John. The athletes were given pointers on dealing with media interviews and engaged in a practice session where they each had the opportunity to interview each other.
At the 2011 Commonwealth Youth Games in the Isle of Man, T&T competed in athletics, badminton, rugby and swimming. Hezekiel Romero was the lone medalist, bringing home a bronze medal in the men's shot put.
The Youth Games nurtures the next generation of global sporting citizens by focusing on friendship, integrity and cross-Commonwealth inter-cultural exchange.
Like the Commonwealth Games, all athletes stay in athletes' village-style accommodation and events comply with International Federation technical rules and regulations, giving many competitors their first taste of an international multi-sport environment.
The host nation, Samoa, is a small, tropical island nation in the Central Pacific with a young population of 187,000, over half of whom are 25 and under.
