Huge Sport Week for Turks and Caicos Islands
On 14 October 2024, the small island of Providenciales in the Turks and Caicos Islands will be the focus of much regional and international attention. The Caribbean Association of National Olympic Committees (CANOC) and the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) will bring scores of sport personnel from the Americas and Caribbean. Participants will descend on the island and be accommodated at the splendid Sandals Beaches all-inclusive Resort for the week, ending on 20 October. The focus will be on sport. The members of both organisations reviewing the past year and approve action plans for advancing their work for 2025.
Why Providenciales?
At its Annual General Assembly held in Bridgetown, Barbados, in October 2023, the membership approved the bid submitted by the Commonwealth Games Association (CGA) of the Turks and Caicos Islands, to host the XIII CANOC Workshop and XXIII General Assembly, 19 – 20 October 2024 in Providenciales. The Executive immediately started the preparatory process with the CGA in order to satisfy the requirements and expectations of the general membership.
The host CGA considered that there should be additional historic significance to the sport gathering next week by insisting on being the first CANOC member to host the Inaugural CANOC Awards Gala. This historic event is scheduled for the evening of Saturday 19 October.
During the course of the current year, the CGF discussed with CANOC the possibility of having its Regional Meetings of the CGAs of the Americas and the Caribbean in the same country and venue as the CANOC annual activates.
The Association of National Olympic Committees of the OECS (ANOCES), also thought that since its members would also be in Providenciales for the meetings of the other two organisations, agreed to convene its own General Meeting on 18 October, at which consideration would be given to mapping the way forward for the organisation and the conduct of election of officers to serve the next four-year term.
The agreement of the three organisations, the host CGA and the government of the Turks and Caicos Islands has led to a sport tourism boon for the small country. The CGF and CANOC are enthusiastic about the sporting spotlight which will be focused on the Turks and Caicos Islands for an entire week This will be a very exciting time for the country and its people and the sports movement across the Caribbean. In many respects, during the course of next week, the world will be witness to a truly Caribbean Sporting Showcase: A Celebration of Sport.
Attendees
The week of sporting activities in Providenciales will see several major sporting organisations and international sport leaders in attendance. The President of the CGF, Chris Jenkins, will be in attendance and so too the President of CANOC, Keith Joseph. The President of Panam Sports, Neven Ilic and that of Centro Caribe Sports, Luis Mejias, and the new Honorary Chair and President of the Centre for Sport and Human Rights, Espy Campbell Barr, will also be there. Deloitte, one of the latest sponsors to join The Olympic Programme (TOP), will be represented by Jesse Rybeck. Julie Duffus and Ben Barrett of the IOC’s Sustainability Department will be in attendance. The International Cricket Council/Cricket West Indies, The Peruvian Olympic Committee, Panamerican Weightlifting Confederation, and the World Flying Disc Federation are all going to be duly represented.
The presence of so many distinguished representatives of organisations that serve sport around the world is evidence of the growing stature of CANOC and augurs well for the future development of sport in the Caribbean.
The world knows of the exploits of Caribbean athletes in several sports, led by track and field athletics. That we have an organisation that seeks to harmonise our relationships, build regional unity through solidarity in and through sport, suggests that much more can be achieved in the future.
Building Bridges of Hope
In the recent past, CANOC has engaged its membership in the conduct of a Needs Assessment Survey. The analysis of the needs of our membership yielded a proposal that led to the establishment of a Memorandum of Understanding with the Olympic Committee of Peru that runs the period through to the Pan American Games being hosted in Lima, the nation’s capital, in 2027.
CANOC’s first ever Strategic Plan is on course for completion by the end of 2024 and already includes due consideration of what has been included in the MOU with the NOC of Peru.
We have also signed an MOU with the Panamerican Weightlifting Confederation that will yield a comprehensive programme that aims to systematically establish the sport across the Caribbean, hopefully, so that we can have due representation at the Games of 2027.
CANOC’s status as an ‘Engaged Organisation’ with the Centre for Sport and Human Rights allows for the institution ‘to support the mission of the Centre to advance a world of sport that fully respects and promotes human rights’. This allows CANOC to: (a) Work with the Centre to initiate or further develop its knowledge about and capacity to respect and promote human rights in the world of sport with reference to the application of the Sporting Chance Principles; (b) Actively participate in and contribute to the activities of the Centre, partake in the development of good practice, share knowledge and cooperate in collective action with actors across the sport ecosystem; (c) Benefit from the educational tools and opportunities, research reports, working groups and multi-stakeholder dialogues developed and convened by the Centre.’
CANOC has been fully supportive of the inclusion of Cricket on the Sports Programme of LA2028 and has maintained strong ties with the International Cricket Council and Cricket West Indies, working to spread the sport across the Americas and seek its inclusion in the Central American and Caribbean Games of 2026 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic and the Pan American Games in Lima, Peru, in 2027.
Bridges of Hope extends to CANOC’s sustained relationship with the international Association for Sport for All (TAFISA). In respect of this latter organisation, CANOC facilitated a joint regional workshop last year in St Vincent and the Grenadines for women sport leaders of the Caribbean. This was the first phase in an ongoing development training pathway for women for all of 2024.
Celebrating Caribbean Sporting Excellence
On the evening of Saturday 19 October 2024, CANOC will celebrate Caribbean Sporting Excellence in a very special way. While the organisation has awarded sports personalities in the past, this is the first time that it will host a full programme that includes athletes.
It is perhaps more than a little significant that this inaugural Awards Ceremony, comes against the backdrop of two of the region’s smallest countries, St Lucia and Dominica, both won their first gold medals at the Summer Olympic Games held in Paris, France, earlier this year.
Around the Caribbean there is much excitement generated by the inaugural Awards Ceremony, something that adds value to CANOC but also gives fillip to the achievers of sporting excellence in sport.
Conclusion
Congratulations are due to the organisers of the CANOC activities being held in Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands in the coming week.
Sport journalists from across the Caribbean have indicated their interest and have already been spreading the excitement that is captivating every Caribbean sport enthusiast.
At the end of the week in Providenciales, the hope is that the world will appreciate the interest and eagerness of the people of the Turks and Caicos Islands to host major sporting events.
The Turks and Caicos Islands may well be saying to the international sport community, ‘We are open for sport tourism business. You are always welcome!’
