NSSSA now has Bowen & Bowen as its exclusive sponsor

The National Secondary Schools Sports Association, the governing body for high school athletics in Belize, has joined forces with Crystal Bottling Company after several unsuccessful attempts at forging a productive working relationship to improve sports across the country.  This afternoon, representatives from the Bowen and Bowen Group were present for the signing of an agreement with executives from the NSSSA (N-Triple S-A) for Crystal to be an exclusive sponsor of future national sporting events.  Deon Sutherland, who has been with the association since its inception, and Jason Solis, Crystals brand coordinator, explain their newfound partnership.

Deon Sutherland, Representative, N.S.S.S.A.

“For us this is very important because this is something, in terms of this agreement, it’s almost about eight months we’re working on this agreement but looking through the archives of NSSSA we’ve seen that NSSSA and Bowen and Bowen have been trying to broker agreements for about twenty years now and none of them have come to fruition.  So as minor as this one is, in terms of what the others were asking for, I believe that this is a big step forward.”

Jason Solis

Jason Solis, Brand Coordinator, Crystal Bottling Company

“This is something that Crystal has long been wanting to do because we stand firmly behind promoting a healthy lifestyle and giving back to communities.  So it seemed like something that was destined for us to sponsor the National Secondary Schools Sports Association and give back to the kids and have them strike that balance between sports and education and helping them do that.  So it’s a wonderful sponsorship.  It covers all the disciplines from basketball to track and field for the length of the school year and so we will be giving assistance in terms of hydration and transportation, security, media and stuff along that route.  And, in terms of the overall value of the sponsorship, it will be covering about fifteen thousand dollars.”

Deon Sutherland

Deon Sutherland

“For the past twenty-eight years NSSSA has been doing this on their own in terms of just the member schools and we have had much success but, you know, as things get more expensive and harder you see whereby we need some corporate assistance.  So this is really a good effort because it kind of takes a lot off the schools in terms of having to provide for example the regional tournaments and it helps NSSSA because we could spend in terms, we could put monies saved into training and workshops for our people.  So in terms of it helps both the member schools and NSSSA as an association.”

Sponsorship covers the four major annual secondary school sporting events in the sum of approximately sixteen thousand dollars.