The Virgin Islands Olympic Committee (VIOC) has selected William 'Will' Peil, a triathlete and 11th grader at Country Day School on St. Croix, and Nikole 'Nikki' Barnes, a sailor and 10th grader at Antilles School on St. Thomas, to attend the first Singapore 2010 Friendship Camp.

The Camp, which will take place from December 8 to 12, 2009 and is organized by Singapore's Ministry of Education in partnership with the Singapore Sports School and the Singapore Youth Olympic Games Organizing Committee, is a special event of the Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic Games. The 15- to 17-year-old athletes from around the world who participate in the Camp will have the opportunity to partake in a wide variety of cultural and educational activities in anticipation of the inaugural Youth Olympic Games (YOG). The YOG will be held in Singapore from August 14 to 26, 2010.

"This is a wonderful opportunity for these two athletes to represent their country and to meet fellow athletes from other countries and make friends for a lifetime," says VIOC president, Hans Lawaetz. "We hope that this opportunity to exchange ideas and culture on a friendly basis through sports will carry over and help towards achieving peace in the world."

Peil, embarked on his sports career as a swimmer with the St. Croix Dolphin's Swim Team at age 8. He became a triathlete in 2007. Prior to this, Piel and his family had hosted triathletes who came to compete in the St. Croix Iron Man 70.3 and Sprint Triathlon for many years and this interested the teenager in the sport. Peil competed in his first triathlon, the Try-A-Tri on St. Croix and finished first in his age division. This provided him the confidence to continue, train and build his skills. He's since competed in several Sprint Distance and Olympic Distance events, each progressively longer. Most recently, Peil placed first out of a pack of 73 international triathletes in the 2009 St. Croix Sprint Triathlon. The course encompassed a 750-meter swim, 8-mile bike, and 4-mile run. Peil also plays football and is a member of the St. Croix Dolphin's Swim Team.

Barnes began sailing at age seven at the St. Thomas Yacht Club. She competed in the 8-foot Optimist dinghy until age 15, where her accomplishments included second best Girl at the 2006 U.S. Optimist National Championships in Florida, Top North American Girl at the 2007 Optimist North American Championships in Mexico, and a placing of 35th out of 255 competitors at the 2008 Optimist World Championships in Turkey. Barnes is currently skippering a two-man dinghy called an International 420 with crew Agustina Barbuto from St. John. The two will race in the I-420 North American Championships in Miami, Florida, over the Christmas holidays. Barnes has also danced with the Caribbean Dance School for 14 years.

The VIOC, founded in 1966, has sent a team to every Central American & Caribbean, Pan American and Olympic competition since 1966, with the exception of the boycotted 1980 Olympics in Moscow, winning its first Olympic medal at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. The VIOC represents 22 sports federations.

For more information, contact the VIOC at: virginislandsolympic@attglobal.net or visit: www.virginislandsolympics.com

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