July 14^th, Toronto, Canada – Gymnast Marisa Dick continued to impress after qualifying for the women’s individual all round competition on Monday night. Dick finished 14^th in the competition, posting solid scores in all four disciplines balance beam, vault, floor exercise and the uneven bars. Following the event Dick expressed pride in her performance saying, “Things went as well as they could go. I’m really proud of myself, and I just want to make everyone in Trinidad proud too.”

Sailing continued with Kelly Ann Arrindell placing 12^th and 9^th in her second and third races in the women’s Laser Radial event, while compatriot Andrew Lewis finished 5th and 6^th in the 2^nd and 3^rd races for the men’s event.

In volleyball the men’s duo of Williams and Whitfield lost their opening game against Puerto Rico in straight sets (21:12 and 21:15). In football the men’s team suffered a tough defeat to Uruguay, losing their opening game 4-0. The warriors also lost the services of captain Alvin Jones, who received a red card and will have to sit out their next game against Paraguay on Friday. Competing in the men’s trap shooting competition, Anthony Maharaj is currently ranked 28^th after one day of qualifying action.

Trinidad & Tobago will continue the hunt for its first medal of this year’s Pan Am games later today in Men’s Field Hockey, Women’s Volleyball, Judo and Swimming. The women warriors will also play their second game against Columbia.

The Trinidad and Tobago Olympic Committee partnered with the Tobago House of Assembly to host the first leg of its 13th annual Olympic Youth Camp in Shaw Park from July 6-11. The second leg will be held in Trinidad from July 20-25 at Olympic House. The theme this year - “10Golds24” - intends to encourage youngsters in the 11 to 14 age group to Strive for Excellence in their sporting discipline, but aims to encourage participants to remember that “the most important thing is not to win but to take part”.

Each day the athletes were exposed to the Olympic Principles of Fair Play, Respect for Others, Joy of Effort, Pursuit of Excellence and Balance between Body, Will and Mind.

Guest Facilitators included Akanni Hislop (Youth Olympian), Pietra Gay (Women’s NBA) and Sherridan Kirk (Olympian) who gave the athletes encouragement to pursue their goals, and were on hand to give sound sporting advice.

Some other interesting highlights for the participants was the inclusion of life skill sessions which focussed on Critical Thinking, facilitated by Save our Children Foundation, Sport for Development and Peace (Janine Thornhill, Commonwealth Youth Sport for Development and Peace Working Group member) and HIV/AIDS Awareness (Youth Department, THA).

The athletes were able to learn new sports from their fellow campers such as volleyball, chess, basketball, football and netball.

They were also exposed to Jump Rope (Thandiwe Prescott), Badminton and Tennis.

The closing of the camp was fashioned after the Opening Ceremony of an Olympic Games with campers parading flags from London 2012 to Tokyo 1964 made for their art project.

Youth Facilitator, Camryn Bruno performed spoken word on the 2015 activities and the Olympic Oath. Kes the band’s Olympic song “Conquerors” was sung by the campers after the “Olympic Games”were officially declared open.

Campers have the opportunity each year to return as Youth Facilitators to assist the Camp Coordinators in leadership roles.

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Monetary bonuses are to be offered by the Trinidad and Tobago Olympic Committee (TTOC) to national athletes competing here at the Pan American Games as part of a plan to improve sporting performances, it has been announced.

Any athlete who receives a medal at an competition associated with the national team, beginning at Toronto 2015, which opened here last night, will be offered these incentives, with the highest award of $3,000 (£1,900/€2,700) being offered to a gold medal winner in an individual event.

Relay runners and those competing in team events will receive different levels of incentives.

The initiative follows the launch last December of the Caribbean country's #10Golds24 drive to improve sporting levels at Rio 2016 and beyond, an effort engineered by TTOC President Brian Lewis.

Offering bonuses is seen as a key way to encourage athletes into sport, and to take that step up to the top level.

Most of Trinidad and Tobago's medal hopes here will compete next week when athletics competition begins, with the biggest hope undoubtedly Olympic champion javelin thrower Keshorn Walcott, fresh from a mammoth a national record of 90.16 metres to win the DIamond League meeting in Lausanne last Thursday (July 9).

Sprinter Kelly-Ann Baptiste and up and coming 400m talent Machel Cedenio are other leading hopes, while Athens 2004 swimming Olympic bronze medalist George Bovell is probably the leading contender away from the track and the field.

“The introduction of medal bonuses is an essential component of the ten or more Olympic Gold medals athlete welfare and preparation programme," a statement from the TTOC said.

“In pursuit of its strategic goals and objectives, the TTOC acknowledges the support of its corporate partners: bpTT, Guardian Group, Scotiabank, adidas, Lisa Communications and NLCB.

“Its an exciting time for the TTOC."

The announcement follows the launch earlier this month of a landmark "Going for Gold" project introduced by the TTOC in conjunction with the National Lotteries Control Board in order to raise funds for potential Olympians.

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All eyes are on this country’s men’s and women’s team competing abroad in the Concacaf Gold Cup and Pan Am Games respectively, but perhaps the most significant achievement for football in this country has taken place off the field-of-play.

Yesterday, the Executive of the Trinidad and Tobago Football Association (TTFA) under president Raymond Tim Kee accepted the recommendations of a Reform Commission and voted unanimously to the amendment of their constitution.

It is the culmination of 18 months work dome by the Commission which included Chairman Raoul John, TTOC head Brian Lewis, ex- WIPA president Dinanath Ramnarine, Senator Elton Prescott, Dr Sheila Rampersad, Shaka Hislop and Patrick Raymond.

Chief among the changes implemented is the setting of term limits for the president. A president will now be allowed just two four-year terms, effectively ending a past era which saw former boss Oliver Camps reign for 19 years.

The next president and vice-president of the TTFA will also enjoy a more comprehensive mandate from football stakeholders as clubs from the Pro League and Super Leagues will now each have a vote for elections.

The Executive Board has also been widened to include representation from the regional associations, Referees Association and Women’s Association. The Commission had also recommended the Players Association be included as well, but it was later decided that body should be functioning more efficiently before getting consideration.

Speaking exclusively with Newsday yesterday at the conclusion of the passing of the new constitution, Tim Kee beamed with pride at the historic venture.

“Everything that is worth pursuing must have a foundation. In any organisation, a constitution, which is more a roadmap to take you where you want to go, quite apart from doing that, tells you how the operation not only operates, but how it is set up to operate, and that has to do with its structure.

We want our constitution to enjoy a kind of pioneer status in this new direction so other sporting bodies can emulate,” he explained.

He revealed that FIFA’s governing body and head of Member Associations, Primo Corvaro, were all pleased with the new document.

“What excites me is the comment from the parent body, FIFA, who from 209 constitutions, has special mention of the work that this Commission did and went as far to say that they hope many countries would emulate what we have done and come up with something with the kind of integrity that this one has,” he noted.

The Port-of-Spain Mayor continued: “What we have done is shift the paradigm from Executive-centric to one that is broader. This one has the clubs and clubs now have a vote as to who would be president...We have also restricted the president’s chair to not more than two years (terms) consecutively. This wasn’t so before, a man could have been president for 100 years.”

Tim Kee revealed that the TTFA will be recruiting specialised personnel to assist in marketing and finance to better maximise the potential of the organisation.

“It’s no longer a case where I like you and I just give you a position. It’s not that way, that has changed,” he declared.

He also paid tribute to the Reform Commission which he believes did an immaculate job.

“The reason for bringing those individuals to frame the constitution, we needed to have a complement of people who nobody could question their character or integrity,” he stressed.

Meanwhile, Ramnarine, who also headed the Implementation Committee (Brian Lewis, Senator Prescott, attorney Mervin Campbell, Raoul John, Oswald Downer), thanked Tim Kee and his administration for allowing the Reform Commission free reign to conduct their duties independently and without any interference or pressure.

“ This is a very bold initiative and very rarely do you see the president of an organisation selecting the calibre of people and say ‘look, football needs your help, come and help us. We want you to put a structure that would take Trinidad and Tobago football forward’. Well done to president Tim Kee.

Today is an important day for Trinidad and Tobago football and the TTFA will now be a leader in sporting organisations when it comes to democracy,” he pointed out.

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The Trinidad and Tobago Olympic Committee partnered with the Tobago House of Assembly to host the first leg of its 13th annual Olympic Youth Camp in Shaw Park from July 6th to 11th. The second leg will be held in Trinidad from July 20th to 25th at Olympic House.

The theme this year ‘10Golds24', intends to encourage youngsters in the 11 to 14 age group to Strive for Excellence in their sporting discipline, but aims to encourage participants to remember that 'the most important thing is not to win but to take part'. Each day the athletes were exposed to the Olympic Principles of Fair Play, Respect for Others, Joy of Effort, Pursuit of Excellence and Balance between Body, Will and Mind.

Guest Facilitators included Akanni Hislop (Youth Olympian),  Pietra Gay (Women's NBA) and Sherridan Kirk (Olympian) who gave the athletes encouragement to pursure their goals, and were on hand to
give sound sporting advice.

Some other interesting highlights for the participants was the inclusion of life skill sessions which focused on Critical Thinking, facilitated by Save our Children Foundation, Sport for Development and Peace (Janine Thornhill, Commonwealth Youth Sport for Development and Peace Working Group member) and HIV/AIDS Awareness (Youth Department, THA).

The athletes were able to learn new sports from their fellow campers such as volleyball, chess, basketball, football and netball. They were also exposed to Jump Rope (Thandiwe Prescott), Badminton and Tennis.

The closing of the camp was fashioned after the Opening Ceremony of an Olympic Games with campers parading flags from London 2012 to Tokyo 1964 made for their art project. Youth Facilitator, Camryn Bruno performed spoken word on the 2015 activities and the Olympic Oath. Kes the band’s Olympic song ‘Conquerors' was sung by the campers after the 'Olympic Games' were officially declared open.

Crystal Toney (2015 camper) expressed what she most enjoyed about the camp, "I enjoyed most how we interviewed each other. I would really love to come back again to the camp next year." Campers have the opportunity each year to return as Youth Facilitators to assist the Camp Coordinators in leadership roles

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July 12^th, Toronto, Canada – Young Sailor Kelly Ann Arrindell is currently ranked second in the Women’s Laser Radial Sailing event after the first race. The start of the sailing event was delayed by several hours today due to weather conditions, which resulted in the course being changed, and an official protest by an Argentinian sailor. Arrindell has eleven more races to complete.  Andrew Lewis, competing in the men’s Laser event is currently ranked 10^th after his first race.

In swimming, sixteen-year-old Carifta Champion, Christian Marsden showed great promise in finishing 13th in the Men’s Open Water 10Km final, in a time of 2:07:53.5. Marsden was one of the youngest competitors in the event, and showed great form in competing against World Champion and eventual winner Chip Peterson of the United States, and former 2012 Junior Pan Pacs Champion David Heron who finshed second. He was supported by a small but vocal contingent of fans including his mother, grandmother, sister and staff of the Trinidad and Tobago Olympic Committee.

In shooting two-time Sportsman of the Year awardee and this year’s flag bearer, Roger Daniel finished 16th in the 10m Air Pistol qualification event and did not advance to the final.

Gymnast Marisa Dick is scheduled to compete tonight in all four events – balance beam, vault, uneven bars and floor exercise.