Olympiad-style sports day to raise funds for St George’s Prep

Dust off your sporting gear and take the kids to St George’s this weekend to participate in an Olympiad-style event.

St George’s Preparatory School will host a community fun and sports day this on Saturday in their ongoing efforts to raise money towards an outdoor sports court.

The school’s PTA is hoping to put a “serious dent” in the $60,000 figure needed to complete the $100,000 project.

The event will be held from 2pm to 6pm and Premier Craig Cannonier, an alumnus of the school, will open the Olympiad at 3:30pm.

For activities, there will be skipping demonstrations, netball, games, a giant slide, fun castle, a variety of tasty treats and a fish dinner by Jamaican Grill at the end.

Marlo Santiago, PTA president said: “We feel strongly that sports and healthy living and a strong sense of community and family are vital components to the success of our children, our families, our neighborhoods and our nation.

“We want this day to be a day when the school and local community will come together to promote the fun and benefits of sport, community and family as well as raise money for our sports court.

“The Olympiad portion of the day is sports based with a focus on team work, outrageous fun and community/family interaction.”

She continued: “People benefit so much from taking part in both individual and team sports. 

“A person has the opportunity to learn and develop so much more than just sports skills from taking part in individual and team sports. 

“They have the opportunity to learn and develop discipline, commitment, courage, endurance, and a sense of satisfaction, good character, sportsmanship and team work. 

“They have the opportunity to face failure and to learn to recover and gain knowledge from the experience and move forward, sometimes through a more concerted individual effort and other times from practicing better team, communication and cooperation skills.”

Mrs Santiago also said students gain a sense of community through sports whether individual or team.

“I also recently had the opportunity to accompany our hockey teams to a Primary School Field Hockey Tournament held at the National Training Center, and the experience was, again, most enjoyable.  

“To see and hear the children as they participated in the games, they were not only learning ball and stick skills, but they were learning and developing team work and communication skills as well as commitment to the team and the game regardless of the outcome.

“My children have greatly benefitted from the school sports at SGPS, as many other children have as well. 

“The gym teacher, Catherine Godet, offers a free netball club for the girls and a free cricket club for the boys. 

“She is an amazing teacher who truly gives her all when it comes to the children.”

 School principal Mary Lodge said: “The school is excited about our plans to build a multi-purpose sports court. 

“We intend our students to use it during school hours and the community will be welcome to use the court after 6pm on a school day and most weekends. 

“We are hoping that our upcoming Community Fun Day will be a major fundraiser towards the project. 

“The PTA is raising all of the money themselves with the help of some private and corporate sponsors.  Please join us for a fun-filled family day.”