Sibling rivalry

Move over Williams sisters there's a greater, more enthralling rivalry. Well at least to those who were present at the 2nd annual Hula Hoop Championships held at the Windsor Park Sports Stadium in Roseau. This was a major part of a fundraising drive by the Dominica Cancer Society under the theme Hoop for Hope on June 12, 2011.

For 5 hours and 34 minutes two sisters, Shantelle and Kiera Ettiene of the Massacre Primary School, hula hooped their way into Dominican history books. Special mention must also be made of Tiana Rolle of the Goodwill Primary School who also beat last year's record but had to stop at 4 hours and 18 minutes due to fatigue. She cried at the end because she just couldn't keep up to the sisters. I'm sure that sounds familiar to tennis fans who have seen the professional athletes cry after being defeated by Serena and Venus Williams.

I had a first hand view of the courage, determination and effort put on by these young girls as chief judge of the endurance challenge. At one time i also performed various other tasks (waterboy, supporter and security) as the crowd continued to cheer on these young ladies.

They could have gone on for much longer as neither wanted the other to win. They tried to trick each other into submission on various occassions each pretending to be tired and on the verge of giving up in an effort to fool the other. It didn't work. On more than one occassion the mother of the young girls asked them to stop and allow the other to win, that didn't work either. On one occasion, the younger sibling cried for a short moment but the older sister wouldn't let up and they were back at it again for another 30 or so minutes. She wouldn't be tricked into letting her young sister win, after all she was the defending champion and record setter at last years championship (4 hours and 5 minutes)

At the end of it all, the crowd encouraged and pursuaded the mother to put an end to the rivalry, citing fatigue, physical damage as major concerns. Both young ladies said that they could have gone on. They also attested that they would be back next year to outduel the other. We shall see.

More on the story, visit Dominica News Online or look at my 30 second blackberry video clip below: