The brand new state of the art sporting facilities at the O'Meara campus of the University of Trinidad and Tobago were formally opened by His Excellency Professor George Maxwell Richards, the President of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago and Chancellor of UTT, on Sunday, April 26th 2009 at a gala ceremony at the campus in Arima. His Excellency, the President also unveiled a commemorative plaque to mark the occasion.
The formal ceremony, which was chaired by Mr. Oliver Flax, Senior Vice President, Student Affairs and Human Services, began promptly at 5.00pm with the arrival of their Excellencies Professor George Maxwell Richards and first lady Dr. Jean Ramjohn Richards over the steel band fanfare performed by the students of the Pan Literacy Programme of the UTT led by Desmond Waith and accompanied by Leon ‘Smooth' Edwards. The steel band also provided the musical entertainment for the entire day's events.
Among the specially invited guests were the Honourable Gary Hunt, Minister of Sport and Youth Affairs, and Mrs. Hunt; The Honourable Fitzgerald Jeffrey, Minister in the Ministry of Science, Technology and Tertiary Education; the Honourable Penelope Beckles, Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives and the Member of Parliament for Arima accompanied by her spouse; Cricket icon Brian Charles Lara; cricketing legend Gordon Greenidge; the top executives of the University and other distinguished persons.
In welcoming the guests, President of UTT, Professor Kenneth Julien gave an overview of the work done by the Academy of Sports and Leisure studies (ASLS) over the past few years. While doing so, he acknowledged the efforts of Executive Manager, Ken Butcher; Research Officer, Mark Mungal; and Brian Lara, Special Advisor to the Academy.
The UTT President expressed his hope for the successful continuation and the fruition of the ambitious project of the ASLS of developing the full potential, both academic and athletic, of the 130 scholarship students of the University who are pursuing their tertiary education in a field of their choice while at the same time getting the opportunity to train in their particular athletic disciplines under the very best coaches available locally and internationally. He also spoke of the tremendous potential for the university, the country, and the region as a whole that will be realized once the state of the art laboratory and research facilities for sports and leisure studies, as part of the Tarouba Stadium Complex project, are completed. Professor Julien lauded the various national, regional and international successes of UTT's Volleyball and Swimming teams among others.
In bringing greetings from the Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs, Minister Gary Hunt said "this opening marks yet another high performance facility in East Trinidad which is all part of the Government's 20/20 vision to achieve a geographical spread of sporting facilities." He said the Government recognizes the abundance of talent in Trinidad and Tobago and is keen to do all possible for this talent to be fully realized.
The Honourable Fitzgerald Jeffrey, Minister in the Ministry of Science, Technology and Tertiary Education gave the feature address in which he made the following comment: "This may seem like a simple state of the art facility but sport is a theatre where a sinner can become a saint." He envisioned that at UTT's sports facility many wonderful games will be played both at the amateur and professional levels. He also predicted that the Academy will do a great job in improving sports in T&T. He praised the University and its Academy of Sports and Leisure Studies for striving for and also achieving both academic and sporting excellence. He pledged his Ministry's full support for all such initiatives of UTT and ASLS. The Minister offered his sincere appreciation to Professor Ken Julien and the staff of the Academy of Sports and Leisure Studies whom he described as prime examples of people pursuing academic excellence and thriving on good sportsmanship.
Vote of thanks was given by Ken Butcher who praised God Almighty, Baba and Allah for his great bounties and thanked all the dignitaries for their attendance and their respective contributions to the success of the occasion of the formal opening of the UTT O'Meara Sporting Facilities.
The highlight of the day's event followed soon after as the Twenty/20 cricket match got underway in the brand new cricket fields at the O'Meara campus. It was an exhibition match between the Chancellor's XI, under the patronage of the Chancellor of UTT, President Max Richards, versus the President's XI under the auspices of the President of UTT, Professor Kenneth Julien.
Cricketers from UTT's High Performance Team played under the banner of Chancellor's XI with Brian Charles Lara as their non-playing captain while an All Campus Team was made up of UTT students and staff members who played for the President's XI under non-playing captain Gordon Greenidge. Professor Ken Julien bowled the first ball to Brian Lara to symbolically open the Twenty/20 cricket match.
A toss was taken by the two captains. Gordon Greenidge won the toss and his team decided to bat first. They were 118 all out in the allotted 20 overs. A very big and pleasant surprise came for the spectators during the last five overs when the President XI was struggling at 34 runs for 8 wickets. The two star batsmen Brian and Gordon decided to come to the rescue of the team and the game picked up pace suddenly with Brian Lara scoring 19 runs with two fours and a six. He was bowled by Keon Isaacs, an athlete on scholarship at UTT's High Performance Unit. Gordon Greenidge, who was Brian Lara's batting partner, made 16 runs with two fours.
Brian Lara's High Performance Team then took command as they made light work of the score piled up against them. They made the required 119 runs to win the match with the loss of just four wickets.
FINAL SCORES:
UTT All-Campus Team - 118 all out (20 overs) Devindra Narinesingh 24, Brian Lara 19, Gordon Greenidge 18, Curtis Morton 5 for 16, Keon Issacs 1 for 22 and Marlon Richards 2 for 15. UTT High Performance Cricket Team - 119 for 4 (16.3 overs), Keon Issacs 43, Alden Daniel 30.
All the dignitaries followed the cricket match with keen interest and great enjoyment.
A great time was had by all who attended the opening ceremony and the cricket match.
The Academy of Sports and Leisure Studies plans to make this cricket event an annual fixture in their sporting calendar.
The Academy wishes to thank everyone for their attendance and participation in this gala event.
