SKNSA prepares for first ever sailing summer camp
Basseterre, St. Kitts- The St Kitts and Nevis Sailing Association (SKNSA) is preparing for its first ever sailing summer camp this month.
SKNSA recently hosted a National Training Review last month and a recent visit is part of a regional project aimed at helping Member National Authorities in the North of South America and the Caribbean developed their sporting structures, including coaching frameworks and participant pathways.
“The SKNSA has been a member of ISAF for only 3 months and we are currently undergoing a training programme review, helping us prepare for our first ever sailing summer camp in August. It means the world to us to be getting this help from ISAF; our goals are to develop the sport here on the Islands, with particular emphasis on the youth sector, in order to be able to deliver year round youth sailing programmes. These would be run from our respective yacht clubs on both St Kitts and Nevis, with long term goals including sailing being introduced into the school sporting curriculum,” said Mark Theron, SKNSA President.
He is of the view that working with ISAF will help our association realise our goal to develop the sport. We will look to host a regional youth sailing regatta in the future and plan to develop young sailors of a level of competitiveness that will see them entering into regional and international sailing events, proudly representing St. Kitts and Nevis as sporting ambassadors,” he added.
He added that the group is impressed and grateful for ISAF’s proactive approach to helping a new National Sailing Association get up and running. We would also like to thank our Ministry of Sport for recognizing the St. Kitts and Nevis Sailing Association and we look forward to working with our National Olympic Committee in developing the sport in St. Kitts and Nevis. As we say here ‘Sailing builds Positive Youth Development’.”
Similar regional projects are also being delivered in Europe and Asia as well as Africa, where the ‘Sail Africa’ has already had a great deal of success with national sailing federations involved accessing additional funding from the IOC as well as helping young sailors attend the 2014 ISAF Youth Sailing World Championships in Tavira, Portugal.
For information on all of the programmes and initiatives that have been developed by ISAF in order to help increase global participation in the sport, visit the website training pages at www.sailing.org/training or contact the ISAF Training and Development Department here.
Regular updates on all our programs (including pictures from all national training review visits) are be available via the Training and Development Facebook page here and updates can be received via Twitter at @ISAFDevelopment