FIVE hundred boys and girls between the ages of six and 12 years old participated in the month-long 2018 Institute of Sports (INSPORTS) Summer Camp that came to close at National Arena, Independence Park Sports Complex last Friday.

The annual summer camp ended with individual awards granted for outstanding performances in the seven sporting disciplines the children participated in.

Those attending this year’s summer camp came from the Kingston, St Andrew and St Catherine communities and were placed into five houses — Yellow, Red, Blue, Purple and Green — and trained in different sporting disciplines.

The sporting disciplines taught at the summer camp were football, cricket, basketball, netball, swimming, surfing and golf.

Donovan Corcho, sports officer at INSPORTS who was the coordinator of the summer camp, said it was very successful.

“It was also a very challenging one, as this was the largest number of participants we have had at a summer camp for the past 10 years. You had a minimum of 48 participants in a house and a few past the 50 and 70 marks,” Corcho said.

According to Corcho, though the children enjoyed the summer camp, one of the key throughout factors was discipline.

He said every day all the sporting disciplines were taught to the participants by representatives from the sports associations to help them to know the techniques and skill sets of each sport.

Meanwhile, Olivia Grange, minister of sport, was pleased with the happenings at the summer camp.

“You all must have been having fun and learning the different sports, as it is also very important as you all would like to become one of Jamaica’s famous stars like Usain Bolt, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce…,” Grange said.

She added: “We are also teaching you all from this summer camp how to make friends, be disciplined, love to care for each other, not to fight, and also learning new things in the sports.”

Acting administrative director at INSPORTS, Renardo Smith said he was very pleased to have catered for 500 participants at this year’s summer camp.

“You all have learnt the different sporting disciplines with three new additional sports — swimming, surfing, and golf. You all should take what you have learnt at the summer camp into your communities,” he told the campers.

He said the INSPORTS staff had done a tremendous job with the summer camp and will be moving it to the other parishes throughout the country.

Acting INSPORTS Board Chairman Newton Amos was also pleased with this year’s event.

“This four-week summer camp is very important, not only just to have fun, but it is also critical to the country’s development. It brings everyone together, especially the children, to meet and greet each other…”

In the individual awards, Karmarley Sparks and Akeliah Vassell were the top boy and girl in the basketball competition, respectively Christopher Thompson was the top boy in the football training, while Keisha Harris was the top girl for netball.

The top performers in cricket were Remekie Millwoood from Purple House, Mark Brown from Blue House, and Marvin Hall from Yellow House. The top boy and girl in bocce were Devon Campbell from Red House and Shanoy Brown from Purple House.

Special awards were presented to the top girl and boy, Tassiann Jarrett and Andre Shields, respectively, from Purple House for volleyball, while Tyrique Brooks and Latiana Palmer, both from Blue House, won the top boy and girl award for golf.

The swimming award for the top boy and girl went to Davian Johnson and Kadrian Sewell from Yellow House. Xavier Fowls from Blue House and Tyra Campbell from Yellow House were the top boy and girl, respectively, in surfing.

Trophies were presented to the top three houses in the summer camp, with Yellow House coming first, followed by Red House and Blue House. The most socialised trophy went to Andrea Chambers from Yellow House.

The summer camp also featured at the closing ceremony singing, poetry, dancing, and drumming by the participants. Each child was presented with a certificate of participation.