Kallicharan, St Fort crowned top youths

St Fort and Kallicharan, who were also among the Top 11 Youth of 2016, got the nod as the Female and Male Youths of the Year respectively.

St Fort’s highlight of 2016 came at the IAAF World Under-20 Championships in Poland, where she earned bronze in the women’s 100 metres in a time of 11.18 seconds.

At the Carifta Games in Grenada, St Fort won gold in the women’s Under-20 100m event in 11.40 seconds. She was also a member of the women’s 4x100m relay team that advanced to the final at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

St Fort was delighted with her achievement saying, “Just to be able to represent Trinidad and Tobago is a blessing and to be recognised from Trinidad and Tobago just makes it all worth it.” St Fort, who is coached by legendary TT sprinter Ato Boldon, said she has already commenced preparation for the 2017 season.

“The work has started since October and we are ready for Carifta trials and then Carifta in Curacao, and then on to London (World Championships) 2017 hopefully.” St Fort is also aiming to improve on her personal bests in the 100m and 200m events. “Yes, definitely sub-11 (100m) and sub-23 (200m) this year.” Kallicharan was not in attendance, as he is currently competing in the West Indies Cricket Board Regional Super50 tournament with the West Indies Under-19 team.

His older brother Hance received the award on his behalf. The older Kallicharan knows his brother would be proud of the achievement.

“I know he will be quite surprised and honoured of this accomplishment, so I know he would probably be celebrating.” Hance said he supports his brother all the time. “My relationship with my brother, both him and I are really close. Where he goes to train I am there. I take him to training, at his games I am there.

Both my parents and I we support him tremendously.” Kirstan was part of the West Indies Under-19 team that won the ICC Under-19 50-over World Cup in Bangladesh. The accomplishments did not end there for Kirstan, as he was part of the TT Under-19 team that captured the three-day title at the West Indies Under-19 Championships in St Vincent and the Grenadines. He also captained the TT Under-17 unit to the West Indies Under-17 50-over trophy in Trinidad, where he posted two half centuries.

National women’s rugby player and rugby administrator Kwanieze John in delivering the feature address spoke to the young athletes about overcoming adversity.

John said, “It is clear to me that people who often achieve the most while inspiring us to be better have a few things in common. One of these things is the ability to confront and overcome adversity without losing faith or belief in self.

“I truly believe that the ability to overcome adversity is a necessary step in building and developing character, which more than anything else can propel you to success.” John encouraged the youngsters to chart their way forward and embrace challenges.“Write your goals down, visualise them, map it out in detail all the steps along the path you will have to take to achieve them. Most importantly, include the dark alleys of doubt and some of the challenges you will have to overcome including illness or injury.

You are human, and adversity is one of life’s constants. Mental fortitude must be part of your preparation.” Also speaking during the awards ceremony were chairman of the First Citizens Sports Foundation Dr Keith Clifford and chairman of the Sports Company of Trinidad and Tobago Michael Phillips.

HONOUR ROLL: Top 11 Youth of 2016

Aaron Wilson – Table Tennis

Chelsea Mofford – Taekwondo

Jeron Thompson – Swimming

Brittany Joseph – Table Tennis

Tyriq Horsford – Athletics

Kate Gordon – Karate

Sachin Kumar – Golf

Khalifa St Fort – Athletics

Nicholas Paul – Cycling

Gabriela Donahue – Swimming

Kristan Kallicharan – Cricket

Female Youth of the Year 2016 Khalifa St Fort

Male Youth of the Year 2016 Kristan Kallicharan

Top Special Olympics Athletes 2016 Jaleel Pierre – Aquatics

Tamika Campbell – Basketball

Alicia Khan – Bocce Luke Laldeo – Floor Hockey

Tyrese Pierre – Football

T-Shian Gibson - Volleyball