Source : www.trinidadexpress.com
By Kern De Freitas
A steady 2010 and strong Commonwealth Games India helped Defence Force marksman Roger Daniel and shot putter Cleopatra Borel-Brown to the Trinidad and Tobago Olympic Committee's (T&TOC) Sportsman and Sportswoman of the Year awards, respectively.
The National Academy for the Performing Arts (NAPA) at Queen's Park West, Port of Spain, was the venue for the TTOC's end-of-year awards ceremony, themed "Celebrating Success".
And there was a lot to celebrate. Daniel, T&T's top pistol and rifle shooter for a number of years, bagged bronze in the men's 50-metre team rifle competition and then silver in the 50-metre pistol event.
He also added Caribbean and Central American (CAC) Games 25m standard pistol gold and 50m pistol silver to his trophy shelf.
Borel-Brown started off the year slowly, but sprung to life with CAC Games gold and threw the iron ball more than 19 metres at both the Aviva London Grand Prix in London and the Weltklasse Zurich competition in Switzerland.
She ended a "good year", said Borel-Brown, with Commonwealth Games shot put silver.
Christian Homer, who had a great year in swimming that culminated with Youth Olympic Games gold in Singapore, was the TTOC Junior Sportsman of the Year, while Junior Sportswoman of the Year was Cherelle Thompson, who reached the semi-finals at the Commonwealth Games, finals of the CAC Games and competed at the FINA World Swimming Championships in Dubai earlier this month.
The Sport Personality of the Year award went to young Shanntol Ince, the first Paralympic athlete to represent T&T at the Commonwealth Games, while the Alexander B Chapman Award for outstanding contribution to Sport and Olympism was presented to Rudolph Jack, founder and president of Marabella-based Rainbow Sports and Cultural Club.
During his feature speech, Commissioner of Police Dwayne Gibbs related his experiences as a young man, stating that sport played a big part in him becoming who he is today.
"Without these sporting moments," Gibbs recalled, "my path may have been very different. Although I came from a nurturing and caring family, as a child I was constantly involved in fights, wasn't very interest in school."
Gibbs, an avid triathlete, said sport allowed him to "positively harness my energies and direct them into opportunities that propelled me to greater heights".
He added that this gave him a sense of purpose, self-worth and self-esteem.
It also allowed him to make friends with like-minded youngsters.
"When we saw what we could do, it inspired us," he said. Gibbs added that the T&T Police Service is trying to engage young people, especially in the high-risk crime areas, to develop more positive pursuits, using sport as one of the tools to offer them an alternative to a life of crime.
Also addressing the athletes on the night was Minister of Sport and Youth Affairs Anil Roberts, who lauded the winners for their contributions to T&T sport in 2010. Coincidentally, Roberts said, he had a hand in training swimmers Homer, Thompson and Ince.
He painted a picture of driven professionals who prepared well and put their best into the sport, for which they were now reaping rewards.
He also singled out George Bovell III for honourable mention, praising him for choosing to "localise it" by returning home to train in T&T.
Roberts said although he was not satisfied with fourth place in the 100-metre individual medley at the World Short Course Championships, it was Bovell's business-like approach that got him ready for the event in four short months of training.
The Minister of Sport, in his trademark, voluble style, even offered to fire himself "for free" as coach—to much laughter--if Bovell's results in the water did not improve.
He also added that unlike NAPA, which was a world-class facility with little functional use, the Government will build venues that will benefit youth, sport and culture in the long run.
Before Gibbs and Roberts took to the podium, T&T Olympic Committee president Larry Romany advised young athletes how important a balance of education and sport was.
Education, Romany pointed out, helped open opportunities to the youth, while sport created that balance.
Those involved in sport, Romany said, tended to be more well-rounded individuals and performed better in their all-round lives.