Members of the Rope Jumping group Double Dutch Forces visited Saba on Thursday last and held a demonstration for the school children of Saba at the Peter L. Granger Sports Auditorium in St. John’s. The group was making a tour of the Netherlands Antilles at the invitation of the Minister of Education, Sports and Culture, Omayra Leeflang. The group hails from North Carolina in the United States of America.
During the visit to Saba the group was accompanied by former Lt. Governor of Saba and President of the Committee Implementation Sport Projects, (CUS) and head of the Federal Department of Education and Culture Yolanda Ng and other members of the CUS.
The Double Dutch Forces has won many championships. They had already visited Curacao, Bonaire and St. Eustatius before performing on Saba.
The group of youngsters were on the island to assist with promoting the action "Antilles on the Move". It is a program that Minister Omayra Leeflang is busy promoting within the Netherlands Antilles for a healthier community on all of the islands. Coach of the group Mr. Peterson said that he was very happy to be able to visit Saba with the group and to perform in front of so many school children. Many Saban students also made use of the opportunity to also join the group and try the rope jumping. To the great surprise of all in attendance Lt. Governor of Saba, Mr. Jonathan Johnson stepped forward and demonstrated that he can still jump and received a standing ovation especially form the students as many of them said that they never knew that Mr. Johnson was still active enough to jump and also jump high. Some students even said that they taught white man could not jump and the Lt. Governor surprised them all. A very nice event and everyone in attendance was very happy that they had also chosen to visit Saba. Also in attendance was Commissioner of Sports Mr. Bruce Zagers. Coach of the team Mr. Peterson also presented Commissioner Zagers with some material so that it can be used by the children during their school physical education period. Several teachers from both the Saba Comprehensive School and the Sacred Heart School were also in attendance.
