Vanuatu National Sailing Association (VNSA) was delighted to learn of Sydney Pettitt’s nomination by VASANOC for the annual C.I.F.P. IOC President’s Prize for Youth presented by the International Fair Play Committee (IFPC).
The Youth representation refers to “an athlete or a team within the under-20 age category, for a gesture of fair play”. Pettitt was nominated as a young and potential sailor athlete representing VNSA.
The nomination and award is for upholding and practicing the C.I.F.P. Fair Play in Sport Youth Charter which is:
1. Fair play is the only way,
2. I shall devote my utmost of my physical, intellectual and moral abilities to both training and competition,
3. I shall observe the written and the unwritten rules of my sport,
4. I shall treat my opponents in the same manner in which I would like to be treated,
5. During the competition, my aim is to defeat my opponents, not to hurt or humiliate them.
6. I shall respectfully acknowledge the decisions of the judges,
7. I shall bear both victory and defeat with dignity,
8. My greatest gratitude is towards my parents, teachers and trainers – without whom I would not be here,
9. I am ready to help someone in need even if I put my own victory at risk by doing so,
10. I represent my homeland with great humility and humbleness, and
11. I would like to be a role model for the youth in my country and my sport.
Established in France in 1963 the International Fair Play Committee, known in French as Comité International pour le Fair Play and abbreviated to CIFP.
A fitting tribute to an ambitious young sailor who has given and achieved so much for the sport of sailing in Vanuatu in such short time.
“As much, we are proud of Sydney’s nomination for this prestigious international award we are sorry that Sydney needs to leave Vanuatu in January next year to complete her education in New Zealand. We are however confident that her protégé’s, Manu Lore and Benny Kaltonga, will follow Sydney’s example and continue developing sailing in Vanuatu”, VNSA Executive told Daily Sports.
Sydney Pettitt learned to sail when she was just 8 years old, represented South Africa in her first world sailing championship shortly before her 12th birthday and sailed for Team GB in youth class world sailing championship events each of the following three years. Sydney’s passion for competitive sailing quickly developed into an aspiration to ultimately qualify to sail and represent her country at Olympic level.
However, soon after settling in Vanuatu with her family in August 2014 Sydney realised that sailing in Vanuatu was enjoyed by just a few privileged expatriate residents and that, predominantly due to economic reasons beyond their control, the indigenous Ni Vanuatu were completely excluded from the sport of sailing. A situation Sydney found both prejudicial and unfair. This prompted Sydney to persuade her father to sponsor a fleet of suitable sailboats, sacrifice her own sail training and the pursuit of her Olympic dream to instead focus her attention to correcting this imbalance by initiating a fair play campaign that which is then introduced to and coached the Ni Vanuatu youth the sport of sailing. In just over a year since then Sydney has virtually singlehandedly taught in excess of sixty Ni Vanuatu youth, none of whom would otherwise likely ever have had the opportunity, how to sail.
To ensure the legacy she has created continues, and so that an even greater number of Vanuatu youth are able to be exposed to the sport, Sydney has also taught three of these new sailors how to coach other aspiring sailors to sail. In addition to this, of the sailors Sydney has taught to sail during the past year, two have already gone on to compete for and represent Vanuatu in the OSAF Continental Sailing Championship and New Caledonia Nationals whilst one has been selected to be the first ever sailor to represent and sail for Vanuatu on international level at the 2015 ISAF Youth World Sailing Championships.
This is a huge achievement for a small nation like Vanuatu and one that would not have been possible had Sydney, now a young 17 year old lady, not sacrificed her own Olympic dream and sporting aspirations for the benefit of many.
In another development Sydney and Manu were recently undergoing intensive sail coaching in Port Vila from the New Caledonia national sailing coach to help prepare them for ISAF Youth World Sailing Championship to be held during the period of 28 Dec till 04 Jan in Langkawi, Malaysia.