NSSSA needs $147,000 for Central American Tournament
If you can spare some, there is one organisation that is in need of assistance and support, and that is the National Secondary School Sports Association which this morning went public with its appeal. The thirteenth annual Central American Scholar Games, organised by the Central American Council for Sports and Recreation, CODICADER, is to be held in the next two weeks and President Deon Sutherland says they need urgent help because government is not holding up to its end of the bargain.
Deon Sutherland, President, Nat’l Secondary School Sports Assn.
“Our association is not one of sufficient funds so we started early last year in the planning and we had hope since this was an initiative under SICA, that the government would have placed more interest in it. However, they are not coming forth. So, we have called this conference to go to the business community, go to the people out there and say look, these kids were working out from November of last year, they have been training week in, week out and it’s really unfair now to tell them well you know we can’t represent Belize. We can’t go because the finances are not there—the people that are supposed to assist are not assisting. We sent out about a hundred and fifty letters of donations to business and so on. And so far, if we have gotten about five thousand dollars we have gotten a lot and this was since April of this year.”
The total cost for the Belize contingent to attend the tournament is in the range of one hundred and forty thousand dollars which includes travel, uniforms and registration costs for the two hundred and forty-nine athletes and fourteen officials and support staff. Students from high schools countrywide will be competing in ten of the sixteen disciplines which include chess, athletics, volleyball, football, softball, basketball, judo, karate, tennis and triathlon. The competition is scheduled for September twentieth to the thirtieth and will be hosted in Honduras and El Salvador. And if you are in a generous mood, you can contact Deon Sutherland at 604-2314 or Treasurer Julio Llinas at 662-5986.
