Focus Sports, Jubilee Event

Cayman: MYSCH Weekend Covers Focus Sports, Jubilee Event

Grand Cayman, 14 June 2022 – The Ministry of Youth, Sports, Culture & Heritage (MYSCH) hosted a new quarterly cultural event and was a major sponsor for two sports-related initiatives over the weekend.

MYSCH Minister, Hon. Bernie Bush made remarks and gave out prizes at Saturday (11 June) afternoon’s 30^th Flowers Annual One-Mile Sea Swim. The Ministry is a platinum sponsor of the longest continuously running sporting event, which raised money for the YMCA this year.

The charity sea swim, which finished at the Westin, attracted around 450 local and overseas participants. The afternoon’s competitors included first-time competitor His Excellency the Governor, Olympic medalists Ryan Lochte, Roland Shoeman and local Olympians Brett and Shaune Fraser, Lara and Geoffrey Butler and Heather Roffey.

The top three swimmers in this year’s open water race were Dominic Hilton, Jake Bailey and Harper Barrowman – who was the first-placed female competitor.

The Ministry hosted its inaugural Saturdays in the Park at the Dart Family Park. Held at the amphitheatre, the Jubilee event started with a reading of an excerpt from the winning Jubilee National Playwriting play. Before the winner was announced MYSCH played a short clip of Mr. Brainard Watler talking about his mother, Mrs. Ena Watler, who won a playwriting competition in June 1953 honouring the Queen’s coronation. Kirsty O’Sullivan’s royalty-themed play earned her the Ena Watler Playwriting award. The prize was presented by Mrs. Watler’s family.

Song & Jingle competition finalists also performed live along with the winners of the Youth Services Unit’s all-island high school Jubilee Poetry competition. Jingle competition: Kasandra Scott Salazar (1^st) $800, James Ebanks (2^nd) $300 and Phoenix Singh (3^rd) – $300. Song Competition: Rebecca Wall and Company (1^st) – $1,000, Faith Foster (2^nd) – $800, Arianna Anglin (3^rd) $500 and Patrick Campbell (Honourable Mention).

Saturdays in the Park will be a quarterly event featuring a different theme each time.

The reopening of the Seven Mile Pubic Beach volleyball courts occasioned a celebratory tournament on Sunday. Closed for much-needed resurfacing work, the area now boasts eight international-standard courts for use by the public, members of the Cayman Islands Volleyball Federation (CIVF) and corporate teams. The remedial work was a collaborative venture of MYSCH, the Ministry of Lands, the Public Works Department and CIVF.