World Cup mascot ‘Trinity’ launched
By Shari John (T&T Guardian)“Equal play for women and girls in sport.” This was the commitment from Caryl Kellar, advisor to the Minister of Youth and Sport Affairs, Anil Roberts at the launch of the mascot for the Fifa U-17 Women’s World Cup. The Local Organising Committee launched the mascot, “Trinity”, yesterday at a fun filled event on the Brian Lara Promenade, Port-of-Spain, following a parade by the team through the streets of St James and PoS. The mascot unveiled is representative of the various cultures in T&T, donned in an Amerindian headpiece, reminiscent of T&T’s Amerindian heritage, as well as Carnival headpieces which grace the street of our twin-island republic every year.
The steel pan motif on the collar of it’s jersey is meant to be a reminder of our national instrument, while it’s red, black and white colours symbolise T&T’s nationalistic spirit for sport and most especially football. Finally, the mascot is one of a strong young woman who is fit, vibrant and spirited and embodies the power of women and shows that it is acceptable for women to be seen as athletic and physically strong. Passers-by flocked to the stage where they were introduced to the mascot and the U-17 team which will attempt to make history at the end of the World Cup which takes place in T&T from September 5 to 25.
Just like boys, girls dream of becoming superstar players, they dream of representing their country on the world stage,” said Kellar. “This is why MSYA is promoting equal play for women and girls in sport during this U-17 tournament and beyond.” Kellar said, girls put equal effort in daily to become the best and as such, deserve equal support in the sporting arena to accomplish such. “Equal play means equal allocation of resources, equal access to sporting facilities, equal airtime, during the sportscast, or sport pages, equal respect and admiration from sport fans and equal elite athlete funding,” he said. Speaking after the launch, Technical director of women’s football in T&T, Even Pellerud, shared that his team, which is currently in camp until the end of the World Cup, is training hard and things are going well.”
Under-17 World Cup mascot is 'Trinity'
By Kern De Freitas (T&T Express)Say hello to "Trinity", the mascot for the FIFA Under-17 Women's World Cup Trinidad and Tobago 2010.
Trinity was officially unveiled yesterday on the Brian Lara Promenade near bmobile's Independence Square branch, in front of a good crowd despite the intermittent rain.
The young "Soca Princesses" were paraded at the event yesterday and cheered on by an enthusiastic crowd, before Trinity took the stage for her own introduction.
Nataki Kerr, Deputy CEO and director of marketing of the Local Organising Committee (LOC) for the World Cup, described the mascot as "representative of all the culture of Trinidad and Tobago".
The headdress is reminiscent of T&T's Amerindian heritage, and traditional head pieces of T&T Carnival. The steel pan design on Trinity's jersey, and the T&T colours of her uniform are intended to portray T&T's national spirit. On a whole, the mascot depicts a "strong, young woman" who is athletic, according to Kerr.
Yesterday several officials were there to greet the young "Soca Princesses", including Caryl Kellar, special adviser to Minister of Sport Affairs Anil Roberts and Port of Spain mayor Murchison Brown.
The new theme song for the Under-17 Women's World Cup is entitled, "Girls Can Kick Too", a collaboration featuring Terri Lyons, Devon Matthews and Dil-E-Nadan.
T&T coach, Norwegian Even Pellerud, is excited over T&T's preparations for the World Cup, and the progress his team has made.
"I'm very impressed by the commitment," Pellerud told the media. "I'm very impressed by the work rate they are putting in every day, (and) there have been tactical improvements, understanding the game better, by the week."
Pellerud has described T&T's progress as "big".
"We have introduced since (their South Korean tour in) April a lot more physical training, a lot more time in the gym, a lot more weights, in a very massive way. We've found by playing South Korea and some other big teams that we need some more muscles, and we have built much more muscles now. The girls look not much bigger, but actually they're much stronger."
A number of North American-born players have joined the squad this year, and Pellerud is pleased with them, and thinks they will gel with the team nicely.
"They need a couple days and weeks to adjust to the level of competition here and the level of fitness, but they're certainly closing the gap to the home-based players, some of these foreign-based players coming in are very, very good footballers.
"The mix is very good, the team is bonding very nicely, and everything is going smoothly," he ended.
