NAPSAC makes full return in 2023

After trialling the relay-only format in 2022, the Chefette Frosteez National Primary School Athlete Championship (NAPSAC) will be returning to its full slate of events in 2023 at the Usain Bolt Complex.

The NAPSAC Special Needs Awareness Walk, which was introduced last year, will also take place on March 21, while the zone competition will run from February 6 to 9 and again from February 13 to 16, with the semi-final on March 2 and the grand finale eight days later.

The popular meet, which showcases the best of the athletics talent within the nation’s primary schools, had fallen victim to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Speaking at the Chefette Frosteez NAPSAC 2023 media launch at the Assad Haloute Complex in Lears, St Michael, on Thursday, NAPSAC Technical Officer Ryan Toppin said the 85 public and private schools were redrawn into eight zones during the 2022 NAPSAC Icon Reveal and Zonal Draw at the Wildey Gymnasium.

“The school rolls do fluctuate, and unfortunately, have been on a downward spiral as of late,” he said.

“As the numbers go down schools have complained that they don’t have those numbers. From a personal viewpoint, NAPSAC is not a numbers game where schools are concerned because smaller schools have risen to the top of NAPSAC. The redraw was done in the fairest way we could do it and we’re expecting that NAPSAC is still going to be competitive. The zones will be very exciting, but that is how we came up with this draw.”

Existing zone records will remain intact but the athletes competing in the zones named after Olympians (the late) Marcia Trotman, Ryan Brathwaite and Freida Nicholls will get the opportunity to etch their names onto fresh sporting pages.

The following events will be held in the respective divisions:

Under 7: 50 metres dash, Standing broad jump, Tennis Ball Throw.

Under 9: 80 metres race, 100 metres sprint, 150 event, 4×100 metres relay, Long jump, Cricket Ball Throw.

Under 11: 100 metres, 200 metres, 300 metres, the 4×100 metres relay, the long jump and The Cricket Ball Throw.

Under 13:100 metres, 200 metres, 400 metres, the 4×100 metres relay, the long jump and The Cricket Ball Throw, Shot Put.

The Zones are as follows:

Andrea Blackett Zone:

St Philip Primary School
The Ifill School
St Martin’s Mangrove Primary School
St Gabriel’s Primary School
St Bartholomew’s Primary
St Paul’s Primary
Good Shepherd Primary
Eagle Hall Primary
The LITE School
Sharon Primary
Eden Lodge Primary

James Wedderburn Zone:

St Giles Primary
Ignatius Byer Primary
St Matthew’s Primary
St Lucy’s Primary
People’s Cathedral Primary
St Stephen’s Primary
St Luke’s Academy
St Christopher Primary
St Ambrose Primary
Roland Edwards Primary
Christ Church Girls Primary

Anton Norris Zone:

Reynold Weekes Primary
Cuthbert Moore Primary School
Hillaby Turners Hall Primary
Welches Primary
All Saints Primary
St Joseph Primary
St John Primary
Grantley Prescod Memorial Primary
Arthur Smith Primary
Deacons Primary
Erdiston Special School

 Marcia Trotman Zone:

Elliot Belgrave Primary
St Mary’s Primary
St George Primary
St Patrick’s Roman Catholic Primary
Charles F Broome Memorial Primary
Selah Primary
Trinity Academy
St James Primary
St Margaret Primary
Bay Primary
Beyond the Box Education

Patsy Callendar:

St Winifred’s School
West Terrace Primary
St Silas Primary
St Albans Primary
Mount Tabor Primary
Westbury Primary
George Lamming Primary
Vauxhall Primary
Legacy Preparatory
Wills Primary
Imperial Private School

Obadele Thompson Zone:

Hindsbury Primary
Eagles Academy
Milton Lynch Primary
St Judes Primary
Gordon Walters Primary
St Cyprian’s Boys’ School
Belmont Primary
St Elizabeth Primary
Bayley’s Primary
Warrens Primary

Ryan Brathwaite Zone:

Lawrence T Gay Memorial Primary
St Mark’s Primary
A Dacosta Edwards Primary
Gordon Greenidge Primary
Wilkie Cumberbatch Primary
Ellerton Primary
St Angela’s School
St Catherine’s School
Half Moon Fort Primary
Blackman and Gollop Primary

 Freida Nicholls Zone:

Holy Innocents Primary
Hill Top Preparatory School
Luther Thorne Memorial Primary
Wesley Hall Junior School
Workman’s Primary
Grazettes Primary
St Bernard’s Primary
St Lawrence Primary
Hilda Skeene Primary
St Luke’s Brighton Primary

The new schools entering this year’s NAPSAC are Legacy Preparatory, Warren’s Primary, Imperial Private School. Beyond the Box Education will be in their first full edition of NAPSAC after competing in the distant relays events last year. (JC)

 

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