Record numbers for schools tourneys

The Pine Hill Primary School’s Netball and the Bico Football 2011 Competitions opened yesterday at the National Stadium with all of the statistics suggesting that it will be a record setting year.
A record 45 football teams and 32 netball squads took part in the parade, with St Angela’s being the Best Football Team on parade and St Stephen’s girls taking the netball equivalent.  
A massive 57 netball teams will take part in the competition, which begins in earnest this morning at the King George V Park.
A whopping 74 football teams will be going after the crown, which was won by West Terrace last year. In 2010 a record 70 teams took part in the football action.
Sponsors Pine Hill, through brand manager Mischa Knight, were proud to point to their unstinting support of the netballers for an uninterrupted 31 years. Bico’s sponsorship of the football is now in its 20th year and manager of special events, Corey Garrett, expressed the joy which his company felt in assisting with the development of future Barbados stars.
Acting Director of Sports at the National Sports Council Mona Alleyne, outlined how netball and football prepared the young children for the ups and downs of life, while encouraging them to play strong but fair. Alleyne also expressed NSC’s appreciation for the support of the sponsors.
After the ceremony the netball teams took part in a rally at the Netball Stadium, while defending football champions West Terrace battled 2010 losing finalists, St Stephen’s, in the Reggie Haynes Memorial Match.
That game went to penalty kicks, with West Terrace edging home 5-4. Kemal Haynes scored for West Terrace early in the first half before Josiah Hinds equalized in the second half for St Stephen’s.
The football teams have been split into nine zones with the action kicking off on Monday in almost every parish.