September heralds the last international event of the season for Athletics Malta.
A now annual appointment, the European Kids Athletics Meeting in Brno, starting on Monday, draws youngsters from many clubs, schools from the host Czech and Slovak republics but also includes international participation from all over Europe.
Besides the Malta selection, teams hail from Latvia, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Hungary, England, Wales and from this year, Romania and Italy are also ex-pected to be present.
Designed for competition by children from the same year of birth, drawn from the five years spanning 11 to 15 years of age, keen competition has seen this event gaining in popularity with this year’s Kids Meeting, the eighth, topping over 1,200 entries.
Our selection this year is made up of nine girls and six boys, chosen according to their exploits in the sprints, jumps, throws and endurance running.
Absent because of age will be Nicole Borg, the best performing Maltese athlete at these Games, after three consecutive years finishing top of the podium.
However, carrying the Maltese flag high will be other now seasoned athletes, led by Janet Richards, Laura Sammut and Nadine Gatt, quite well known already for their achievements.
The other girls taking part are thrower Catriona Cuschieri, jum-per Kaylie Riolo, Nicole Attard Glivau in the longer sprinting and up and coming youngsters Anthea Camilleri, Andrea Schwaiger and Francesca Mercieca, at 13 years the youngest female in the group.
Among the boys, Luke Scicluna, who was also present last year, competes in sprints and jumps.
Miguel Grixti and Nick Cassar Torreggiani will be taking on the javelin throw and long jump respectively, besides the sprinting, while Stefan Pace Parascandolo will surely relish competing in the 1,500m race.
To complete the team will be two promising 13-year-olds. Luke Mizzi will take up the challenge in the 800m and Nassim Dardouri will be battling it out in the sprints.
The team is under the guidance of two MAAA Council members, Pierre Xuereb and Stephen Spiteri, recently sitting for his certificate in coaching.