Jr. International Rugby Fest to Kick Off In GBI

Members of the Freeport Rugby Football Club have officially begun preparations to welcome approximately 350 players and their families to Grand Bahama Island for this year's 8th Annual Junior International Rugby Festival.

The festival has attracted teams from the Cayman Islands, Bermuda, New Providence, and Key Biscayne, Florida. Teams are scheduled to play in the two-day tournament beginning Saturday, May 19th through Sunday, May 20th, at the Rugby Club on East Settler's Way.

Rob Speller, President, Freeport Rugby Football Club, said, "We're expecting a great weekend of Junior Rugby. A lot of our kids don't have the opportunity to travel often to international tournaments, so this gives them a focus for the year that they can experience a proper festival playing against teams from other countries and cities."

Children ages 6-16 will compete for the championship title while meeting new people and showcasing their talent for rugby on a larger scale.

In preparation for the event, children enrolled in the Freeport Rugby Football Club have been training with Youth Development Officer, Steven Sheehan, who said, "I’m extremely excited, as one of the main reasons that I was brought over to the island was to promote the sport with the end goal of showcasing our talent at the festival."

With so many visiting teams, junior rugby players on Grand Bahama Island will be afforded the exposure to compete at a level that they would otherwise have to travel to experience.

Sheehan said that "This is the opportunity for kids to show all the hard work that they put in and being able to get into the schools and become closer with the community is a great opportunity to show that all of our hard work over the past few months is going to pay off."

Jay Philippe, Asst. Manager, Niche Markets, MOTA, said, "The Ministry of Tourism is once again a proud sponsor of this year's Junior International Rugby Festival. We've been working with the Rugby Club for a number of years now, as this is one of the biggest events in terms of Sports Tourism simply because of the number of persons that travel to our island to compete".

"This will be a large economic boost for our industry with persons staying in various hotels, eating in our restaurants, needing bus transportation, and utilizing a number of different agencies, so the Ministry of Tourism is very proud to be a part of this event."

The event will begin at 9am on Saturday, May 19th and end on Sunday, May 20th. For more information on the festival, visit www.rugbyfootballbahamas.com