Sports

The closing ceremony of the 2009 Inter-House Football League of the Albena Lake-Hodge Comprehensive School, sponsored by the National Bank of Anguilla in collaboration with the Football Association, was held at the Ronald Webster Park on Monday evening this week, February 1.

Students from the six Government-run Primary Schools are improving their competitive sporting skills with a Volleyball Tournament now being held at the Ronald Webster Park under the guidance of a number of local coaches.

Last Saturday, twenty-seven young sailors from St. Barth, St. Maarten, and Anguilla competed in the 4th annual Anguilla Dinghy Regatta. St. Barth came with eight sailors, Sint Maarten with twelve, and Anguilla fielded seven avid competitors, all under the age of 15.

The 21st annual NBA sponsored, 2009 Primary School Football Tournament came to an exciting end on Friday November 20th, 2009 at the Coronation Ball Park. Despite the many obstacles that posed delays in the tournament schedule, the Anguilla Football Association along with the Education Department, the Sports Department and the National Bank of Anguilla Ltd managed to reschedule the games to ensure a timely conclusion.

With the wrapping up of the 2009 NBA Primary School Football Tournament, came the opening of the 2009 NBA-AFA Inter-house Football Tournament.
The opening ceremony was held on Monday November 23, 2009 at the Ronald Webster Park and chaired by the General Secretary of the Anguilla Football Association, Mr. Damien Hughes. The short ceremony began at 3:30 pm where remarks were heard by the principal of the Albena Lake Hodge Comprehensive School, Mrs. Ingrid Lake; the Director of Sports, Mrs. Wilma Proctor and by Mrs. Deslyn Smith, Market Research & Business Development Support Officer of the co-sponsor, National Bank of Anguilla Ltd.

The day was glorious and the Anguilla Eels Rugby Football Club play, in the annual St Martin Archibald Rugby Club tournament, was just as spectacular.

Not 45 days since the game of Rugby was announced as an Olympic sport for the 2016 games in Rio, our island nation was able to do Anguilla proud by making it to the semi finals against very tough experienced competition from St Martin.

The National Bank of Anguilla Limited is currently sponsoring its 21st Annual Primary Schools Football Tournament. It commenced at Coronation Park in The Valley on Friday, October 16, ushering in another time of excitement for the young players, their schools, parents and the general public.

Anguilla was represented at the 37th Annual Central American and Caribbean Bodybuilding Federation over the past weekend. The delegation led by Haydn Hughes, President of the local chapter of the IFBB (Anguilla Bodybuilding & Fitness Federation) arrived in Grenada on Thursday, 30th September.

The Anguilla Development Board Volleyball Business League continued with some mesmerizing games on the 2nd and 3rd October. Friday’s entrée was a warm dish of Sports Department entertaining team Statistics. Captain Ian Connor and team Sports played the role of gracious hosts as they served heaping dishes of peppery serves and hot spikes.

A small ceremony was held at the Coronation Park on Sunday September 27th after a training session. In attendance were coach Owen Mussington, Elaine Brooks and Chairman of Pony Anguilla Calvin Hughes.

Practice sessions are now in progress in Anguilla for the NAGICO-sponsored Leeward Islands Cricket Tournament of one-day matches, the Albena Lake-Hodge Comprehensive School’s Inter-House Football Competition and the National Bank of Anguilla’s Primary Schools Tournament.

Chesney Hughes, one of Anguilla’s promising young cricketers, is back on the island. He returned home to much celebration on Wednesday evening after a six-week period in England.
There he played with the Derbyshire County Cricket Club in the English County Championship. He has been awarded a two-year contract up to 2011.

As the 2009 Anguilla Development Volleyball League continues, the quality of matches also seem to improve. On Friday 25th September, Teachers played MICUH in what was a very competitive match. The engineers from MICUH brought out all their measuring devices as they were intent on preventing the Teachers from winning any sets. Under the leadership of Khalidah Banks and Perry Richardson, the Teachers fought valiantly but it was to no avail in the first set.

The downstairs section of the Scouts and Guides Ruthwill Auditorium was the scene of an exciting King of Domino Competition over the weekend.

Reigning Champions of St. Martin
The Sunset Homes Attackers Team is on a high after their commendable performance against The Attackers of St. Martin held on Sunday September 20,2009 in St. Martin.

The Warriors Domino Sports Club of Stoney Ground, which has emerged as a force to be reckoned with, won all three matches when it played in a tournament match in Statia during the weekend of September 11-13. Originally, the Club was also due to play against a team from Antigua but the match did not materialise.

Tears rained down at the Wallblake Airport on Sunday 6th September, 2009, as the Anguilla Football Association continued its commitment to the development of young people through the game of football, when two of its players left the island to study in the United Kingdom.

Continuing on the road of improvement, Denvile “Skywalker II” Ruan used his 2008 experience at the World Junior Championship in Poland to prepare for the 2009 World Athletics Championships which were held in Berlin, Germany. During the preparation phase Denvile participated in the Austrian National championships and produced a time of 11:53 seconds. Later he participated in an invitational track meet in Nurtingen, Germany, improving his time to 11:44 seconds.

Anguilla’s premiere athletes Shara Proctor and Denvil Ruan are in the final stage of their preparations for the World Championship Games to be held in Berlin, Germany this coming weekend. Both athletes have competed in two warm up meets in the last two weeks.

On Sunday July 26th, about 11 of the Class A racing boats left the Sandy Ground beach in aid of one winning the Peter Perkins Race.

Breaking down before reaching the stake which was dropped outside Cap Juluca, was the Real Deal, De Stinger and the Miss Anguilla.