BY ROMULUS HUTA
SELWYN College has begun its preparations in an attempt to defend their title in the upcoming Association of the Church of Melanesia Schools and Institutions and Communities (ACOMSIC) Games scheduled for June.
The fourth edition of the ACOMSIC Games will run from Saturday 23rd June to Saturday 30th June. The venue is yet to be decided.
Selwyn College plans on sending a big contingent to the event.
Godfrey Salo, a staff representing the college’s sports division told SunSPORTS yesterday that preparations are underway at the moment.
Salo said they are aiming to participate in six sports namely futsal, soccer, netball, volleyball, rugby and athletics.
They also have a basketball team but unfortunately the ball bouncing sport will not be featured in the Games due to no participation from other partaking institutes except for Selwyn College and Saint Nicholas College.
Salo added that they are looking forward to the event and are serious going about their title defence.
“We have a training squad for all participating sports at the moment and trainings toward the selection of the final teams will continue this week,” Salo expressed.
The ACOMSIC Games will see all students of the Anglican Church of Melanesia schools and institutions converging at the host venue to take part in a weeklong festival of sports, entertainment and educational awareness.
The theme for this year’s event is ‘Oneness through Sports’.
The six main sports to be featured include soccer, futsal, netball, volleyball, rugby and athletics.
The athletics will feature track and field events.
The field events are javelin, long jump, shot put, and discuss while track events will feature 100m, 200, 400m, 800m, 3000m, 5000m, 10000m, 4x100m, 4x200m and 4x400m relay.
Apart from the sporting competitions, other activities will also be organized such as night activities for students which includes educational and health talks, speech contest, choir competition, cultural dancing and beauty pageant show.
Desmond Waita, the Anglican Church of Melanesia (ACOM) Education Secretary and the head of the organising committee, Desmond Waita told the media in a previously issued statement that all the Anglican Church of Melanesia-run primary, secondary and RTC schools are expected to take part in the event.
“I want to appeal to the general public, business organizations, sporting federations and other sports stakeholders to come and support the students in their sporting activities as sports create a healthy and discipline society.
“It is expected that about one thousand students and teachers are expected to take part in the week-long sports and educational event,” Waita said.
The ACOMSIC Games was used to an annual event in the past with the known last edition to be held was in 2006.
After nine years of absence, it saw revival in 2015 and Selwyn College came out on top as the overall winner while second and the third placing went to Saint Stephen Pamua and C E Fox Sa’a, respectively.
