The game will follow the opening clash of a double header with Curacao facing Grenada from 5pm. Matches continue on Friday and Sunday with only the Group winner advancing to the Caribbean Final round in Haiti.

Head coach Jamaal Shabazz has been overseeing the team’s preparations for just under a month and says he expects the team to overcome their hurdles this week.

“I think we have prepared well.

It’s a different ball game all together having to switch from training senior men to now preparing Under 17 women. It’s a new language and new type of decorum.

The under 17 girls is a different kettle of fish. I have learned a lot in this three weeks and some of us has been very enjoyable. “But overall I think the players have demonstrated a good level of understanding for the game which is an encouraging sign and they have a high level of enthusiasm to work hard and achieve success.

They are very passionate and I am very impressed with their effort and determination and also their spirit,” Shabazz told TT FA Media.

“They have put behind them the season that they had when they went to CONCACAF for the first time at Under 15 level and were slaughtered and now they are very focused on the future and this upcoming tournament.

“We will enter the competition confident as hosts but very careful about how we approach the games because there has been progress in each of these three countries in women football and everyone wants to move on and get to the final round in Haiti. It is important that we take each game by its own and put points on the table so at the end we can come out on top of the group and advance to the next phase,” Shabazz added.

“This team did not come out of a development programme when the new regime came into the TT FA, they inherited a CONCACAF tournament which they played in.

The teams we had before developed at under 12. So this is new to these girls and it will not be a stroll in the park for us at this level. It will be a huge challenge,” he said.

Tickets are priced at $20 (Adults) and $10 for children and will be available at the venue on each match-day.

I have always enjoyed good vampire novels dating back to the 19th century story, Vampyre by Dr John Polidori. Anne Rice’s vampire series beginning with Interview with a Vampire from which Lestat becomes a hero hooked me on vampire literature. One of the best vampire novels I have ever read happened to be Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot.

The only other zombie novel I ever read was World War Z: an Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks. Admittedly, this novel is so well written, I often forgot it was fiction.

When I say I took a chance on vampire literature, I mean I really took a chance because The Girl with All the Gifts is one of those books that people felt fit to review without revealing any of the plot. In other words, everyone wrote that this is a great novel, but I can’t tell you what it is about.

Usually I avoid books like that because I am inevitably disappointed. I want to know what a book is about, but in this case, the glowing reviews lured me into this zombie novel.

Unlike other reviewers, I’m going to talk about the plot, but I promise not to reveal too much. The Girl with All the Gifts is the story of Melanie and a class full of “hungries”, which are really zombies.

Melanie and her classmates have questions about people and the unknown environment from where they come. The children are hungry for stories – especially Greek myths—but the problem is they are zombies so they are hungry for everything – including humans. These children have been infected years ago, but they still have some human feelings. That’s why they are being studied.

Carefully and with great skill, Carey sucks readers into the novel by creating empathy for the children. Restrained and strapped into chairs while they attend class, the children seem to be horribly abused. Of course these are precautions that are being taken because zombies are not to be trusted. But their kind teacher, who feeds them stories seems to trust the children. At least she trusts Melanie.

By the time readers realise that these children are dangerous, it is too late. We have let our guard down, and we really want Melanie to survive. Carey constantly plays with readers’ feelings. As she reveals more and more of Melanie’s emotions, readers want to believe that Melanie can be a child again. I found The Girl with All the Gifts to be a fascinating story filled with vivid description; compelling characterisation and nail-biting tension.

The lessons are simple, but profound exercises in trust. The Girl with All the Gifts is a book about taking chances and giving people chances. In many ways it’s a book that tests our belief in whether or not people can change. Is there a point of no return in our lives? This zombie story is a metaphor for many of the issues that drive our lives. The Girl with All the Gifts is the first in a series. That’s good news for those readers who can’t get enough of zombies.

We are often told of the great benefits of regular exercise on physical health and as part of a weight loss plan, and according to the National Health Service (NHS) it’s medically proven that people who do regular physical activity have:
• up to a 35 per cent lower risk of coronary heart disease and stroke
• up to a 50 per cent lower risk of type 2 diabetes
• up to a 50 per cent lower risk of colon cancer
• up to a 20 per cent lower risk of breast cancer
• a 30 per cent lower risk of early death
• up to an 83 per cent lower risk of osteoarthritis
• up to a 68 per cent lower risk of hip fracture
• a 30 per cent lower risk of falls (among older adults)
• up to a 30 per cent lower risk of depression
• up to a 30 per cent lower risk of dementia
But not enough is said about its mental health benefits. We are increasingly having to cope with stressful situations and circumstances that affect social and psychological wellness such as exams, work place dynamics, relationship breakdowns, unrealistic targets and deadlines, financial worries, and the list goes on and on. So, given the amount of stressors in life, it is well worth reiterating that physical activities can positively impact on emotional and mental health and should therefore be embraced as part of overall health and wellbeing plan.

There is an abundance of research on physical activities and its impact on mental health, and many show that exercise as a behavioural intervention can be as effective as other forms of treatment in addressing the symptoms of depression.

Those who live with depression know that it can cause general malaise and a sense of despondency, low mood and isolation, which makes it even more difficult to motivate oneself to do any physical activity.

It was a virtual final with City Hall in second spot on 14 points and needing a victory against league leaders Transport and Cleansing on 16 points. Anthony Husbands was the hero, scoring a brace to lead City Hall to the narrow victory. N’kosi Raphael also got on the score sheet for City Hall, while Nicholas Solomon and Andy Charles scored for Transport and Cleansing.

St James Division leapfrogged Transport and Cleansing into second spot with a 6-0 victory over Public Health. The knockout competition will start today at Nelson Mandela Park.

SCORES: Round Seven (Final) Round – St James Medical 2 (Stephan Gunn, Tevin Figaro) vs Western Division 1 (Akinola Paul); Central/Eastern 10 (Tikeste Jules 3, Akeem Young 2, Jabari Bruce, Dillon Murrel, Yevan Rajpaul, Ysama Young, Kibwe Petterson) vs Central Market 0; City Hall 3 (Anthony Husbands 2, N’Kosi Raphael) vs Transport and Cleansing 2 (Nicholas Solomon, Andy Charles); St James Division 6 (Marvin Harper, Mi chael Harris, Kalim Young, Keston Williams, Sekou Long-Kujufi, Aton Thomas) vs Public Health 0.

Round Six: Western Division 3 (Devon Jack 2, Asim Faltine) vs Central Market 1 (Arnold Sherry); City Hall 2 (N’Kosi Raphael, Nkosi Telemaque) vs St James Division 2 (Kevon Frederick); Transport and Cleansing vs St James Medical – Transport and Cleansing won by default; Central/ Eastern 1 (Akeem Young) vs Public Health 0.

KNOCKOUT FIXTURES: City Hall vs Central Market, Today, 5 pm St James Division vs Western Division, Tuesday, 5 pm Transport and Cleansing vs Public Health, Wednesday, 5 pm Central/Eastern vs St James Medical, Thursday, 5 pm.

Students were expected to access their results from the Caribbean and Examination Council (CXC) website on Friday at 10 pm, however, the site crashed which left many frustrated.

Several students did not access their results until Saturday afternoon.

In a release issued yesterday, the Ministry of Education said it was aware of the challenges experienced by students and was working diligently with CXC in Barbados to rectify the situation.

The ministry said Garcia acknowledged an understanding of the importance of these results for students to continue on their academic journey, either to sixth form or tertiary education.

The ministry said candidates who wrote CAPE were able to access their results on Friday while most CSE C candidates were able to access their results on Saturday.

The ministry also sought to clarify that it does not manage the websites for release of CXC results as those portals were managed by CXC, and any challenges that nationals faced in accessing their results are communicated to the council by the ministry

The man reportedly took out a gun and shot Charles twice in full view of other patrons.

The gunman then fled the scene and Charles was taken to the Sangre Grande Hospital where he is warded in a serious but stable condition.

Officers of the Matelot Police Station are investigating.

A previous statement from the Office of the Prime Minister said the meeting will begin at 2 pm and will discuss the unsuccessful attempt to find a replacement passenger ferry to service the seabridge between Trinidad and Tobago.

Those invited to attend include the Tobago Chamber of Commerce, the Tobago Hoteliers and Tourism Association, the Tobago Truckers Association and the Tobago Unique Bread and Breakfast and Self-Catering Association. Also due to attend are Minister of Works and Transport Rohan Sinanan, Tobago West MP Shamfa Cudjoe and Tobago East MP Ayanna Webster-Roy. Rowley has expressed his “great disappointment” at the saga leading to the termination of the contract for the passenger ferry Ocean Flower II.

Meanwhile truckers spokesmen have recently complained of an infestation of roaches and rats in the cargo ferry, Cabo Star. The route is otherwise serviced by the passenger fast ferries, TT Express and TT Spirit, but the latter is now on dry dock.

Addressing a news conference at his party’s San Fernando headquarters yesterday, Abdulah took issue with the appointment of businessman Christian Mouttet by the prime minister to investigate the ferry fiasco.

He described the appointment as “spectacular failure.” “He (Mouttet) has absolutely no power to investigate anything,” Abdulah said. “He has no legal authority to summon anybody as a witness, to get any documents, to go into any office and take away computers, to access email information.” He told reporters commissions of inquiry over the years have failed to bring perpetrators to justice.

“So that it is clear to see nobody does the time in Trinidad and Tobago,” Abdullah said, adding that when a commission of inquiry is appointed it takes weeks and months to be completed in addition to the enormous costs to the taxpayers.

He said the only people who benefit from this are the lawyers who are hired to investigate these matters.

Abdulah said it makes no sense reporting matters to the police since they have a track record of zero per cent of success with respect to investigating white collar crime.

He cited the 2015 matter in which former attorney general Anand Ramlogan is being investigated for witness tampering with regard to Police Complaints Authority director David West and, two years later, the police were only now seeking to question Ramlogan.

He listed “prisongate” and “emailgate” as issues which had been dragging on in the public domain with no end in sight.

Abdulah also cited the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) which makes reports of suspicious transactions amounting to billions of dollars in corruption and money laundering and so on.

“Not a single person has been reported as a result of the FIU reports,” he said, adding that this unit provided information to the police service and they had not been able to bring prosecution or closure to any of these matters.

In light of the failure of these institutions, Abdulah is proposing that Government establish special prosecutors who would have sole responsibility for managing the gathering of evidence with respect to white-collar crime and corruption.

A special prosecutors office, according to Abdulah, should be equipped with well-trained police officers and be given a budget to hire international forensic investigators or auditors who knew how to “follow the money” across Trinidad and Tobago or wherever the money might end up.

He recalled that this method was not new to this country saying the late Desmond Allum was appointed as a special prosecutor and he had made headway with regard to the Scott drug inquiry where charges were brought against former commissioner of police Randolph Boroughs.

He also said that another special prosecutor was Karl Hudson Phillips who dealt with the Piarco Airport project and this led to people in the US being arrested and made to serve time. In this case, money was recovered and returned to T&T because of this special prosecutor.

Over 6500 swimmers aged 25 and over including former Olympians and world record holders, converged on the Duna Arena for seven days of swimming.

Swimmers from every continent participated including Hungarian Bela Banki Horvath who was the oldest swimmer at 96 years old.

Cozier competed in the 50m backstroke for age 50 -54 females yesterday and placed 8th in a time of 35.91 seconds.

She also placed 15th in the 50 free (30.83) and 50 fly (33.15). Among the other TTO entrants were 1984 Olympian and Head Swim Coach at UTT Paul Newallo; Head Swim Coach of YMCA Swim Club and 2010 CISC bronze medallist Mosi Denoon; and former national record holder in the 9-10 female 50 and 100 fly Ava Badal, now Ava Badal Henry-Chow.

TT Women’s Results: 25-29 Megan Charles- 50 free 39th 29.92; 100 free 33rd 1:05.48; 200 free 37th 2:28.46 Rochelle Pierre- 50 free 42nd 30.36; 50 fly 56th 33.12; 50 breast 34th 40.51 35-39 Ava Badal Henry-Chow- 50 free 41st 31.67; 50 fly 33rd 34.61

40-44 Shinelle Padmore- 73rd 50 free 34.02

50-54 Danielle Cozier- -8th 50m back 35.91; 15th 50 free 30.83; 15th 50 fly 33.15

TT Men’s Results: 25-29 Mosi Denoon- 35th 100 breast 1:13.21; 21st 200 breast 2:42.43; 41st 50 breast 32.90

30-34 Daniel Newallo- 93rd 50 free 27.45; 62nd 100 breast 1:20.20; 69th 50 breast 35.20

40-44 Anton Gopaulsingh- 26th 50 free 26.09; 46th 50 fly 28.92; 17th 50 back 31.40 Curtis Harper- 67th 27.48 50 free; 100 free 71st 1:02.95 Adrian Murphy- 150th 50 free 30.38

50-54 Paul Newallo- 27th 100 breast 1:19.45; 50 breast 34.50 26th

60-64 Richard Knaggs- 32nd 50 free 29.76; 27th 100 free 1:08.69; 21st 50 fly 32.65

RELAYS: Age 200-239 male team: Gopaulsingh Knaggs, Newallo (P), Harper 4×50 medley relay 15th

2:06.03 4×50 free relay 11th 1:49.09

Age 120-159 female team: Pierre, Cozier, Charles, Henry- Chow 4×50 medley relay 11th

2:19.59 4×50 free relay 9th 2:00.69

Age 200-239 mixed team: Murphy, Padmore, Cozier, Knaggs

4×50 free relay 29th 2:04.49

Age 200-239 mixed team: Cozier, Newallo (P), Henry- Chow, Knaggs

4×50 medley relay 16th 2:13.12

For over 30 years, Sarjeant- Gonzales has been a textile designer but only started her own clothing line, Lisa Faye, four years ago. She specialises in hand painting silk to make scarves, dresses, beach cover-ups and other pieces, which she believes has the ability to soothe and heal.

She recalls when a panicked mother entered her store asking for two silk scarves and that when she handed her fussing children the scarves, the fabric soothed them immediately.

She also says she has a lot of customers who were undergoing chemotherapy and with their entire bodies hurting them, they look to her silk pieces as a way of feeling comfortable and beautiful.

“It’s a lot more than just having a business, it’s about adding to other people’s lives in a positive way. So that is why I say this is where it’s at.

It’s a nice place, people are happy and I am happy. I don’t need to have a hundred thousand customers to say what I do is correct.” Using dye to paint designs onto the silk, Sarjeant-Gonzales adds embroidery to some pieces, which she imports from India, to embellish her work. She said each piece takes a week to complete.

She also sells a lot of imported jewellery and shoes that she believes will compliment her designs Prior to starting her own line and opening her store, Sarjeant-Gonzales designed fabrics for other designers and anyone who wanted to buy her fabric.

And as if that was not enough, she also had to balance her work and her family while being a radio talk show host.

After more than 25 years in the media, Sarjeant-Gonzales recently decided to devote her life to her true passion and her “first love,” designing.

She said a lot of her creativity came from her family, with her father being an artist and an architect, and her parents encouraging her: “Be who you need to be, you don’t have to go to the typical… be happy and do whatever you do.” Sarjeant-Gonzales thinks that is how passion grows and “that’s where the success is, once you do what you love.” She also had her husband’s push, telling her it was time to branch off and do her own thing, while her daughter Amaya Alleyne was a great inspiration to her work.

Sarjeant-Gonzales said: “You see creativity a lot more through children because they don’t see the world in the corrupt eyes that they’re in.” She said that as her daughter was growing up, it was a lovely way of spending creative time with her. Her daughter models her mother’s designs, pictures of which can be seen on Lisa Faye’s Facebook posts as well as on the walls of the store.

Sarjeant-Gonzales said when her daughter began modelling and she saw what it did for her daughter’s self esteem she got two of her friends to model also.

“One of them was looking at the pictures afterwards and said ‘Aunty I didn’t realise I was so pretty,’ and she’s gorgeous and I wish I could do that all the time.”