President of the Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG), Claude Blackmore yesterday cleared up the misconception of the National 6th Form Schools Championships being a competition only for Sixth From students and emphasized that the championships would cater for all students of Sixth Form schools.
“The name is a little misleading and people have already jumped to the conclusion that it is only for Sixth Form students. This is not so. It is really a competition for Sixth Form schools and will include the participation of all students from forms one to six in those schools,” he said.
Blackmore revealed that the idea for the National 6th Form Schools Championships was inspired by the Ivy League and Big Ten Championships in the USA.
Blackmore also said that the association was attempting to get students of the top schools in the country more active in sports.
He feels that there was a need for the students of the country’s top institutions to have a chance to compete at a high level since they might not have had the opportunity to qualify for the Guyana Teachers’ Union Annual National Championships. Ac-cording to Blackmore, the 6th Form championships was just another idea towards developing student-athletes and was in no way organized with the intention of disenfranchising the athletes of other secondary schools. He said that the major purpose was to get more athletes from the top schools actively involved in athletics as they may not have had the opportunity to take part in the sport beyond the inter-house level.
“What we are trying to do is to encourage the students with a strong academic background to be actively involved in sports and more specifically athletics, so that they may be able to combine the two to become well-rounded individuals.
“It is not like if we are leaving the other schools out of our activities; we just are trying to give the students from the elite schools a chance to compete at a high level,” he said. Blackmore also mentioned that invitations have been sent out to all schools for the National Junior Champion-ships which will be held later in March and the National Schools Relay Competition which is scheduled for February 19 at the Enmore Community Centre Ground.
The National Sixth Form Schools event is planned for March 7 at the Georgetown Cricket Club Ground, Bourda, and will include Queen’s College, Bishops’ High school, St. Stanislaus College, St. Rose’s High, St. Josephs High, President’s College, Mackenzie High School, New Amsterdam High School and Berbice High School.
The championships will feature individual track events, relays and field events. Each athlete will be allowed to compete in only two individual events and relays so as to allow more persons to compete.
