Sports
Promising young soccer stars to train with Chelsea FC
(CNS): A coach for the footballing giant Chelsea FC, had great things to say about Cayman’s young players following a soccer clinic which took place in Cayman last week. The senior international development officer for the Chelsea FC Foundation, David Monk, praised the high quality of footballing talent he saw at the Kick Start Clinics sponsored by Digicel and held at the Truman Bodden Sports Complex. Zachary Scott, Tevin Crawford and Kameron D’hue were the three youngsterspicked to go to the Digicel Academy in October which takes place in Barbados where they will train with coaches from the famous football club.
“With our visit being the first of its kind to Cayman, we were excited to see exactly what these Caymanian players had to offer,” said Monk. “After day one, we concluded that the attitude and professionalism demonstrated by these young men was admirable, this partnered with a high ability level means that we must adopt high expectations for our next visit.”
The Cayman Islands was the fourth stop on the 14 country tour which will see Monk and his team of coaches training the Caribbean and Central American region’s best young players. This was the first year the Cayman Islands took part in the clinics which included increased training time with the boys as well as an under-16 girls training session.
On Thursday, 15 May the first three players to represent the Cayman Islands at the academy later this year were selected. Scott, Crawford and D’hue were picked from thirty of the top local players while Jiffon Robinson was selected as the ‘Wild Card’ and dubbed fastest footballer in the Cayman Islands.
There will be a wild card player selected from each of the 14 participating countries and three of those will go on to attend the Digicel Academy by winning a spot based on fan votes and Digicel Cayman promises to promote the initiative heavily when voting opens in July to get Jiffon on his way.
Minister of Health, Sports, Youth and Culture Osbourne Bodden said bringing Chelsea FC to Cayman for the first time had boosted the profile of the camp. “I'm hoping that the three Chelsea coaches will have a major impact on our youngsters, male and female, and also on our local coaches. Chelsea is one of the world's largest clubs in the world and they have a lot to share. I'm hoping this will become a permanent fixture on our sporting calendar,” he said.
Meanwhile, local Digicel boss Raul Nicholson-Coe explained whatthe football camps were all about.
“The Digicel Kick Start Clinics provide the ideal vehicle to ensure that the kids with the athletic abilities are provided with a platform to showcase their skills and to be given opportunities to develop not only their athletic abilities, but to also be given the necessary life skills related to commitment and professionalism that will allow them to be successful in whatever career path that they chose,” he said.
The Digicel Kick Start Clinics provide thousands of aspiring young footballers from across 14 countries in the region to try out for their chance to travel to the Digicel Academy in Barbados and train under top coaches from Barclays Premier League side, Chelsea FC. For more information please visit www.digicelfootball.com
Maples Rvs, Steppingstones too strong for opponents
(CRFU): The semi-finals of the National Touch Rugby Championships 2014 were played out against a backdrop of searing heat at the South Sound Rugby Club last weekend.
First up saw tournament favourites Maples Reserves take on Island Air. At this level, touch rugby is not the pastime of a few ex-rugby players looking for a runaround but rather a fast-paced, well-drilled game where adherence to a structured game plan is essential. And none come better drilled than Maples Reserves. Captain Adam Huckle may appear amiable and avuncular on the surface but let that not fool you for inside there is a man with a rabid appetite for the win.
His team has been training all season and so when Andrew “John” West scored after 30 seconds from the kick-off there was a palpable and ominous feeling that this was going to be a long afternoon for the Island Air team. A quick second by Australian Ian Smith (no, not that one who plays Harold Bishop in “Neighbours”!) confirmed their early dominance and for a while it looked like Island Air might go into a tailspin. Chandra Friesen managed to grab one back for the ‘Air after a nice dummy break by the buffed and blond Neal Ainscow, but it was lean cuisine for the team in black.
Maples Reserves pose a threat right across the team whether it be the lightning speed and Riverdance-like feet of Nicky Keogh; the circa 1957 Elvis hip swivel of Neil Montgomery; the languid low-rider running style of Jyoti Choi or the Highland Terrier-like scampering of Andrew “Westie” West. Tries came at regular intervals but none more significant or controversial than the ‘Reserves fourth try, where Choi, having collided with Island Air’s Sheila Crosby and taking her completely out of the game, then exploited the defensive gap caused by her being prostrate on the floor to eventually score himself.
It was an unusual occurrence and although unintended was significant none the less. Referees Henshaw and Shelver debated long and hard and eventually the try was given. More than one eyebrow was raised in the stands at that decision. A half-time score of 7-3 paid tribute to the tenacity of Island Air and Neal Ainscow in particular but the crowd felt the writing was on the wall. It did not make good reading for Island Air.
The second half became a procession with tries for Dan “Des” O’Connor (3), Wiki “Pedia” Hitchman (2), and Elvis Montgomery. By the end, Island Air were more lost than Flight 370 and I doubt even the full resources of CNN and their myriad of search-and-rescue analysts and experts could locate their chances of winning this one. Final score 14-4 to Maples Reserves.
The second semi-final saw SteppingStones take on Heineken Brew Crew. A quick glimpse at the team sheets showed this to be a game of seasoned Touch players full of guile and nouse (SteppingStones) against a team dependent on youthful vigour, pace and energy brought to it by its band of inexperienced by highly skilled National Rugby players (Heineken Brew Crew). Therefore it was a shocking blow to the ‘Crew when five players were withdrawn from their roster due to National Squad commitments, leaving an average age approaching 40.
Stripped of all their most potent weapons they were like a gunslinger going to a stand-off with rolled-up newspaper. They might make a make a couple of hits if they could get close enough but hardly deadly. And yet it was Heineken who scored first. Steve “the Baker” Henshaw crossed the whitewash in the first minute and briefly (well for just two minutes) Brew Crew dared to dream. However, that dream soon turned to a nightmare as Scott McCarty (3), Simon Raftopolous (4), Morgan Shelver (3), Rudolf Weder, Shaun McDermot and Emily Davies racked up the tries. Time and again SteppingStones would break through the aging defensive line on halfway and with no speed in the chasers they would canter on to score at a trot. If it was a boxing match the referee would have stopped it as Heineken were taking metaphorical punch after punch. They were beaten and at times looked broken. Final score 13-2.
The final game saw a 5th and 6th place play-off between Maples and KPMG. Both teams have struggled this year through either a lack of experience, players or general fitness against the bigger guns in the League.
Maples have looked good in parts this season and they probably saved their best for this game winning by 11 tries to 1. The try of the game, indeed the try of the day was scored by their dynamic strike runner Nino Dilbert. He had been having a good game running in four excellent scores from nice offloads but his individual try in the second half was something to behold – literally poetry in motion. Picking the ball up just over halfway he span, toe-looped, salchow-ed and axel-ed his way through a KPMG defence left to clutch at the thinnest of straws.
It was mesmerizing stuff and his own team just stood in awe and wonder as he pirouetted through to score a magnificent try. Ably supported with scores by Michelle Bailey (2), and Finn O’Hegarty (2), Paul “Barrel” Johnson and Ruan Van “Rental” Vuuren it proved all too much for KPMG. They never gave up though and a consolation score for Mark Bakker was well deserved.
Cayman sailors take 3rd place in J22 Worlds
(CISC): Brothers, Mike and Simon Farrington have returned from South Africa where they successfully clinched a podium finish in the J22 World Championships. Although they sail against each other on different boats here in Cayman, they teamed up and sailed a great regatta clinching three second place finishes in the 11 race competition.This is the 4th World Championships in which Mike Farrington has represented Cayman and the results have shown a steady increase. “After competing in two championships in the USA we came fourth last year in France and now we have got in on the medals” explained a very happy skipper. “Who knows, perhaps next year in Germany we can do even better.”
Brother Simon was equally upbeat. “We had hoped to have Coach Raph on the team this year and with his skills we might have taken second place. Our substitute crew Ilianna did a great job and the winds were light. Next year the Baltic Sea in Germany might be a bit of a challenge temperature wise!”
Sailing club manager Rick Caley was full of praise. “They are both very successful sailors here at home but to go out and put yourself up against the best of the world in a very competitive sailing fleet is a great achievement for local sailors. Our youth sailors are off to China this summer to represent Cayman in the Youth Olympic Games and so it has been a very successful year and shows that we have a lot of talent on our small island.”
Lionfish sting Wahoos in dramatic touch encounter
(CTA):Thelma and Louise, Cagney and Lacey, Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie, Pussy Riot, George Michael and Elton John. There have been some famous female duos over the past thirty years. But here in Cayman we have a new partnership emerging that is setting the world of Women’s Touch on fire. Nicky Keogh and Emma Santiago. Faster than a puff adder, and deadlier than a Taipan, both play for LIONFISH and have developed over the course of the Women’s Touch League into a two-headed hydra capable of felling their opposition with such speed of attack that there is rarely any antidote on hand.
In matches against SHARKS and WAHOOS, Keogh and Santiago and shared the MVP awards across both games. Keogh has the ability to score long range tries through shear speed and with a nose to sniff an opportunity she can create scores from seemingly unpromising situations. Santiago uses a combination of agility and speed to score her tries and she posted a double in both games.
In their first game against SHARKS, LIONFISH took control of the game through their use of “arrows” attack and utilized all six touches to advance up the pitch. However, SHARKS are not prone to panic and managed to claw their way back into the game with tries from Michelle Bailey, Roz Glanfield and Wiki Hitchman. Using the wrap around to great effect through the Hitchman/Bailey combo they came back to secure a well-earned 3-3 draw.
Against WAHOOS, the LIONFISH showed their defensive mettle and were able to bottle up the dangerous Lisa Kehoe, and with good control of the ball and running good arrows they released Nicky Keogh for a long run to score. Santiago managed to break out and notch up two tries again with a combination of good foot work and speed. Coach Neil Ainscow said, “What is most impressive from both games was our ability for the team to utilize all six of their touches without giving up possession. We are progressing nicely and feel we can beat anyone at the moment.”
The SHARKS returned from the day with a win and a draw but it was not their most fluid of performances. It is said that the sign of a good team is one that wins whilst not playing well and the SHARKS know they can trouble every team on their day. After their 3-3 draw against LIONFISH they defeated an understrength STINGRAYS, Michelle Bailey getting the winning score. Their defence was severely tested against LIONFISH and Tanya Potiyenko once again stood out continuously shutting down the LIONFISH strike runners.
WAHOOS stay top of the table courtesy of a forfeited game against STINGRAYS. Their only competitive run-out was against the emergent LIONFISH and they couldn’t handle the double-barreled assault of Keogh and Santiago. Whilst LIONFISH strike from distance, WAHOOS have their own deadly duo who prefer to do their damage at close quarters. More Muay Thai than Mai Tai, the pairing of Sharlee Henshaw and Lisa Kehoe might look as fruity as a Polynesian cocktail but from 5 metres out the damage they can do is like a sharp dig in the ribs for the opposition, usually resulting in try-time. Kehoe, quicker to the “dump” than a ramped-up Scania Front-Loader, often catches the defence on its heels bursting through to offload to Henshaw for the touchdown – difficult to execute, but even harder to defend against when done well. It was good, but ultimately not enough to sink LIONFISH on the day.
STINGRAYS had to default both games due to a lack of players but played their games for experience. Shout-outs must go to Jenna Blake who improved hugely by coming off the wing and getting involved in the middle. She grew in confidence and shut down a lot of plays on defence. Meylys Swaby has also improved game on game by initiating the touch and therefore dictating the pace of the game.
LIONFISH 3 v. SHARKS 3
LIONFISH 3 v. WAHOOS 2
STINGRAY v. WAHOOS (WAHOOS win due to STINGRAY forfeit)
SHARKS v. STINGRAY (SHARKS win due to STINGRAY forfeit)
Local sprinters going for gold in Bahamas
(CNS): Kemar Hyman, David Hamil, Rhymeich Adolphus, Troy Long and Tyrell Cuffy will be ehading to the Bahamas this coming weekend to compete in the Inaugural IAAF World Relays. The local sprinters will be lining up for the 4x100m and 4x200m relay races at the new games where some 800 athletes are expected to compete on 24-25 May in Nassau. The top eight teams in both the men’s and women’s 4x100m and 4x400m will automatically qualify for the 2015 IAAF World Championships in Beijing. Those teams will also be awarded prize money with the gold medallists taking home no less than USD $50,000. Another $50,000 bonus is also up for grabs for any team that breaks a world record.
The Cayman Islands Athletic Association (CIAA) said the Cayman five man te4am will be accompanied by National Coach, Kenrick Williams and Team Manager, Ato Stephens.
As well as the sprints the inaugural event also includes the 4x400m, 4x800m and 4x1500m. Preliminary entry figures indicate that 48 member federations will take part in Nassau. Initial entries of 762 athletes – 440 men and 322 women – have been received by the IAAF as 90 men’s teams and 64 women’s teams will be spread across the five events.
800m sea-swim to provide warm up for 1m race
(CIASA): The 12th Annual Butterfield 800M Sea Swim takes place on Saturday, May 24th. The swim starts at 4pm, with registration from 3-3:45pm at Public Beach; and runs south, parallel to 7 Mile Beach starting at Public Beach and ending at Governor’s Beach. This is CIASA’s second sea swim this year and is the last chance for an official warm up swim before the 22nd Flowers 1 Mile which takes place on 14th June. “Open water swimming is a wonderful way to stay fit and enjoy the warm, clear waters of our Islands,” said Butterfield’s Marketing Officer Rebecca Ebanks.
“As part of our community focus, Butterfield encourages fitness activities supporting wellness and we are pleased to, once again, partner with the Cayman Islands Amateur Swimming Association to host this annual event. We invite swimmers of all levels to come out and take part in this delightfully active afternoon,” she added.
Registration fees are: CIASA members $15/Adults and $10/Children, Non-members $20/Adults and $15/Children. (All fees are in CI$).
“Butterfield’s commitment to Cayman Swimming over the years is greatly appreciated,” said CIASA President Michael Lockwood. “I know that a number of Butterfield staff members are avid swimmers and I look forward to seeing them all at the Start Line on Saturday.”
All swimmers are provided with swim caps, which must be worn for safety reasons and there are event T-Shirts and trophies for the top three male and female finishers in each age group; and Subway sandwiches and refreshments provided at the end of the race.
Cayman’s football boss presses integrity agenda
(CNS): Jeff Webb is keeping up the pressure when it comes to integrity in the game of football. The CONCACAF President and FIFA Vice President, Jeffrey Webb recently opened a joint FIFA-INTERPOL Workshop, entitled ‘Train the Trainer for Football Players and Referees’. The course delivered by INTERPOL’s Integrity in Sport Programme Manager, Julie Norris had over 25 participants from a cross section of areas within CONCACAF, and a Major League Soccer Representative. Upon completion of the course, participants will be able to facilitate the recognition of match fixing propositions and specifically address issues of corruption.
“Having recently signed an MoU with INTERPOL, we remain committed to educate, identify, prevent and provide appropriate disciplinary sanctions to all professionals involved in any unethical and unlawful behaviour that would undermine the game,” said Webb. “This is the fourth workshop on sports integrity in our region since 2012, and we embrace the opportunity to share this knowledge with key stakeholders, to keep the sanctity of our game intact.”
Dr Noris added that she was pleased to help in the training to target match-fixers and help those in the game to recognize, resist and report approaches, to ultimately preventing match- fixing.
Rising stars shine in Wellington
(CIEF): For twelve weeks at the beginning of every year, Wellington, Florida is host to WEF, the Winter Equestrian Festival, which draws in the who’s who of the international show jumping world. The 2014 season did not disappoint, but was so marked by the dominance of British show jumpers, that organizing CEO Mark Bellisimo joked that next year’s festival would be renamed the BEF – the ‘British’ Equestrian Festival. Two rising show jumping stars of Cayman were lucky enough to meet one of those British stars, Ben Maher, whilst catching the end of the festival. The youth riders were in Wellington to compete in the Second Annual FEI Group IV Caribbean Challenge.
Polly Serpell and Thea Millward travelled to Wellington at the beginning of April to compete in a three day Challenge event against other young riders from the Caribbean. The Challenge was organized by a combination of WEF, the US Equestrian Federation and the FEI’s Group IV members and a number of Caribbean countries each sent two riders. The visiting riders borrowed horses from a pool lent by riders from North America who also attended and competed at the Challenge.
After a warm up competition, the first event to kick things off was the Group IV Classic. Thea Millward had a great round and was delighted to finish in 2nd place, highest placed in the Caribbean, with Polly Serpell finishing 11th. At the next event, the Group IV Championship Competition, Millward had an unlucky refusal and was eliminated but it was Serpell’s turn to excel and she finished fifth, the highest placed Caribbean rider on the second day. Serpell was also awarded ‘Best Horse’ for the horse she borrowed, Montego.
For Serpell, this is priceless show mileage in preparation for her attendance at the Youth Olympic Games in August 2014, where she will compete for Cayman against the best youth show jumpers in the world. Serpell has been competing consistently in Florida since she qualified for the Games last year.
Haines passes $400K as he approaches 3rd marathon
(CNS): Local veteran distance runner Derek Haines took another step towards his $1m goal in his six marathon challenge recently when a local firm donated $25,000, pushing the total pledged so far over CI$400,000 with some four weeks to go before his third marathon of the year in Spain. The latest cash came from Peter Fitzgerald of Pestkil and was described as “brilliant” by Haines, as it came on a day when smaller amounts also trickled in, all helping in the aim to build an in-patient care facility for the local hospice charity. “Friday was terrific,” Haines said.
”I had a call from Jennifer Grant-McCarthy at Hospice to tell me about this donation and another for $500.When I took the cheques to treasurer Chris Johnson he had just received another for $1,000: so $26,500 on one day and that is $1000 per mile towards the next marathon. To burst through the $400,000 mark in a relatively short period is a tremendous tribute to the generousity of the Cayman population and it is so good to see so many initiatives by the community taking place; initiatives such as the Deputy Governor's 5K challenge and a charity dinner at the ICOA restaurant,” he added.
Haines will head to Pamplona next month, where he will run the inaugural 26 mile race there marking his halfway point in the six marathon challenge. He is hoping by that time to have reached the half way mark in the cash total as well as the marathons under his sneakers.
To donate to the Hospice six marathon challenge or find out more information go to six4hospice.com
Tennis club holds first 8 & Under event
(TFCI): Last Saturday saw the first Tennis Federation of the Cayman Islands “8 & Under Fun Event” held at the Paul Howard Community Courts in West Bay. Eleven children attended the event, sponsored by PwC, with parents watching the games played on the four mini-tennis courts. Coach Noel Watkins of the Cayman Islands Tennis Academy and the Tennis Federation of the Cayman Islands' Dan Altneu officiated the matches, and the kids thoroughly enjoyed the event. Snacks and drinks were donated by Fosters Food Fair. The next event will be a 10 & Under event which will be held in late June. Anyone wishing to join the fun should contact the TFCI at tennisfederationcayman@gmail.com to be added to their newsletter.
