NETBALL FRATERNITY HIGHLIGHTS PROUD LEGACY
The St Vincent and the Grenadines Netball Association (SVGNA), on the occasion of the Official Opening of the Annual Bank of St Vincent and the Grenadines (BOSVG) National Netball Tournament, on Saturday last, chose to highlight the organisation’s proud legacy in this country. Fittingly, the leadership of the organisation fittingly chose to showcase its legacy as this nation observes National Heritage Month, March 2026. The theme of the ceremony was, Honouring Netball’s Proud Legacy
Netball is one of the oldest sports practised in St Vincent and the Grenadines and since its introduction in the 1950s, this country has distinguished itself to the point where we are considered amongst the leaders in the Caribbean region. The sport is practised by over 13 million people spread across 120 countries, 84 of which are officially recognised members of World Netball, the international governing body for the sport.
While the sport of netball began as a female-only sport, today is has a thriving men’s segment in place. It remains one of the more popular sports in St Vincent and the Grenadines.
This year’s BOSVG Netball Tournament features 30 teams from across St Vincent.
The Legacy
In her remarks at Saturday’s Opening Ceremony, Natasha Samuel declared, ‘Today is more than the start of a tournament. Today is a declaration of identity.
The 2026 BOSVG National Netball Tournament is being staged under the theme, Honouring Netball’s Proud Legacy. This theme is deliberate. It is not decorative nor sentimental. It is strategic.
‘Legacy is not something we inherit casually. It is something we protect intentionally.
‘For decades, netball in St. Vincent and the Grenadines has stood as one of the strongest pillars of organised sport in our nation. Long before structured pathways were fashionable, netball was building systems. Long before global conversations about women in leadership gained momentum, this sport was producing female leaders of strength, discipline, and vision’.
In her very inspiring address, the president noted, ‘our courts have shaped educators. Our programmes have produced administrators. And our national teams have inspired generations of young girls who saw in netball not just a game, but a gateway.
‘That did not happen by accident. It happened because of sacrifice, discipline, and belief from those who came before us.
‘We honour administrators who met in modest rooms with limited resources, but limitless determination. We honour coaches who trained teams in the rain. We honour umpires who upheld the rules even when it was unpopular. And we honour the players who represented this country with courage when resources were scarce’.
The St Vincent and the Grenadines was one of the first national sports associations to have been incorporated as a legal entity, allow for its ownership of property, its home at New Montrose. This was in large measure thanks to the indefatigable efforts of the owners of Prime Foundation for Sports and its local lead, the late Festus Toney, as well as pro bono work undertaken by lawyer, Stanley ‘Stalky’ John, now Governor General of St Vincent and the Grenadines.
The work of getting the home of Netball built was the inimitable resolve of the late Gloria Ballantyne, then president of the SVGNA.
President Samuel reminded the audience that the national team holds position ‘18th in the World Netball Rankings and third in the Americas region. That position reflects not chance, but consistency, structure, and competitive excellence.
‘Regionally, we have asserted ourselves within the OECS, capturing the OECS Under-23 Tournament on numerous occasions and building a culture of youth excellence that has become synonymous with Vincentian netball.
More recently, we successfully defended our title at the ECCB International Netball Series in Grenada, reinforcing that we are not a programme in decline, but a programme in motion.
But trophies alone do not define legacy.
When we speak about legacy, we must also speak about responsibility, particularly our responsibility to the next generation’, citing the fact that Division 4 in the annual Tournament is exclusively dedicated to introduction of the sport to the nation’s youths. It has now been rebranded as ‘the Youth Development Division’.
Building upon the legacy
President Samuel’s sterling address to the audience at Saturday’s Opening Ceremony, left no one in doubt as to the resolve of her executive to build upon the legacy she chronicled before them.
Samuel readily dismissed any thought that the sport of netball is on the decline. Instead, she articulated a number of activities that are being undertaken to sustain interest and participation in the sport amongst young Vincentians.
Listeners were given the impression that no effort will be spared in building the sport, village by village, school by school and club by club.
The loss of the opportunity to host the World Cup Qualifiers for the Americas in October 2026, now assigned to Barbados, must not be taken as anything but a temporary setback from which the organisation and the nation can rebound. Effort will be directed at promoting the sport, bringing more players on board and taking the standard of play to incredibly high rankings.
There is every reason for lovers of. netball in particular, to have emerged from Saturday’s opening with a spirit of optimism for the future of the sport.
The title sponsor, BOSVG, along with the St Vincent Brewery and others that have contributed, over the sport’s history here in St Vincent and the Grenadines, to its several activities and competitions, have articulated their satisfaction with the current leadership of the sport and the new dynamism being generated and sustained. The future of the sport is assured.
Indoor Sports Complex
There are, however, some legacy items of our netball history that are not so favourable.
For all of the years of the sport of netball being among those national sports that has placed our country amongst the best in the Caribbean for more than seven decades, and host to several Caribbean and OECS tournaments in addition to those that are local in. nature, the sport does not yet have a facility that meets contemporary international standards.
Netball has long been recognised as an indoor sport, like basketball and volleyball as well as a number of table and mat-based sports. Unfortunately, successive governments have spoken about but never delivered an Indoor sports facility.
The absence of such a facility has led to players of the likes of netball, basketball and volleyball having relatively short playing careers. The constant pounding on unyielding surfaces of asphalt and concrete damages their knees, negatively impacting most of them for the rest of their lives.
The provision of hardcourts across the country over the past several decades, while satisfying successive governments with having provided opportunities for recreation to significant proportions of the population, have also proven to be something of a disservice to many who could well have gone on to professional careers in some of the sports the practised and contested on those facilities.
On Saturday, yet another government has promoted its commitment to providing the nation with an Indoor Sports Facility of international status, a feature of the ceremony that was heartily welcomed by the audience of the sport’s most consistent patrons.
Still basking in the euphoria of the change of government, it is not surprising that the announcement engendered so much support. However, it should also be clear to the new political administration that among the legacies of the sport is its resilience and eagerness to speak out in support of its demands. The current leadership and supporters stand ready to consistently press home their demands.
The Vincentian netball fraternity knows only too well that as a small nation, with limited resources and an open, vulnerable economy, an Indoor Sports Facility must cater to all the indoor sports practised here, now and in the future. Saturday’s message from the president of the SVGNA was clear, the facility must serve and be shared by all. There was no selfishness evident in her sweeping presentation.
Conclusion
Netball has served Vincentian society for several decades and its legacy has a fixed place in the nation’s sporting annals.
All sports loving Vincentians should laud the work of the netball fraternity from origins to today.
Too often we deny ourselves the opportunity to review the past and enjoy the successes in order to look to the future, confidently expectant that we can overcome the limitations we encountered along the way to attain higher levels of achievement, making all of us decided proud.
We extend our sincere congratulations to the SVGNA and give thanks to all those who, in one way or another, helped to forge and sustain the amazing legacy that will forever impact and define who we are as Vincentians.
