VINCENTIAN SPORT POSITIVES ENCOURAGING DEVELOPMENT
Over the past several months, we have been witnessing some very interesting developments taking place in Vincentian sport.
This Columnist has always made it clear that perhaps too often we are so eager to be critical of ourselves that we completely miss the positive things we are doing and therefore fail to promote them, to the detriment of Vincentian society.
Whilst it remains an important part of our mandate to cover sport as it happens and to make appropriate critical analyses of the performances that we witness, we must never fail to be honest about the positives and negatives, but always in a developmental manner.
We encourage participation in physical activity as an essential part of an individual’s life for fitness, good health, productivity and general mental well-being. We encourage participation in sport as facilitating all of the foregoing relative to physical activity as well as building strong and lasting friendships, facilitating the pursuit of excellence upon a solid foundation of discipline.
We are also very conscious that not every Vincentian sports team that travels to represent our country receives the overwhelming support that should almost automatically come with our sense of national pride, nor does it receive an official airport welcome upon return to local shores. Nonetheless, no national athlete nor team ever leaves St Vincent and the Grenadines without an understanding of the awesome responsibility of bearing our national colours in training and competitions abroad. They are all imbued with a sense of purpose and an appreciation of their roles as this country’s ambassadors.
Some important developments
Volleyball
The most recent achievement of a Vincentian national team came at the East Caribbean Volleyball Association’s (ECVA) Volleyball Championships, where they emerged victorious. The success came against the backdrop of the U23 team’s success back in 2023. Many of the players in this year’s competition were on the team back then and also on the one that went to the higher-standard competition in Suriname in 2024. In a sense, they may well have constituted its core.
According to reports from the competition, the Vincentian team’s victorious sojourn came as no surprise. They seemed eager to win and were consistent throughout the competition. Their success was all the more impressive because they lack an indoor facility, having to use the ageing outdoor court at the Girls High School in Richmond Hill. This is one of two courts gifted to the local association by NORCECA, the continental arm of the international Volleyball Federation (FIVB).
The team’s success may well lead to a boost in participation in the sport at all levels as well as strengthen the case for the long-sought indoor sports facility that so many Vincentian sports associations have been requesting.
Squash
Our squash successes have not received the attention deserved. Over the past few years, the dedication being given to the sport has led to some outstanding performers who are staking claims at the Caribbean level and a few, beyond the region.
Despite the limited resources and attention being paid to the sport of squash, the athletes and leadership remain particularly committed and are hopeful for a change in fortunes some time soon. The facilities are in need of significant upgrades to match the performances it has given rise to. The achievements here continue to draw attention to our country, including the possibility to host regional and international competitions, should appropriate developments take place at the level of facilities for training and competition.
Many wonder about the potential for growth and development with better facilities.
Cricket
While attendance at the local and regional level has not improved significantly over the past several years, the sport of cricket has continued to attract interest amongst the nation’s youths, especially in rural areas.
History nonetheless remains consistent in that for all of the nation’s cricketing history, it is the rural areas, despite limited resources, that have consistently produced our best cricketers. This fact has not, however, facilitated a change in the sport’s approach to development. In spite of this fact, the sport’s popularity allows rural communities to be confident of their place in the sport, with talent consistently emerging.
There is now more reason to have cricket take its rightful place as an agent of community development, positively impacting the broad welfare of the inhabitants. Efforts must be directed at attracting cricket fans to the rural homes of the sport as entertainment and revenue-generating options for the Vincentian populace.
The nation’s response to the Cricket World Cup’s T20 competition in 2024 and the more recent CPL suggests that there is a need for a systematic analysis regarding the consistently low numbers in attendance at local matches. This disconnect must be addressed if we are to plan and reap persistent benefits from the sport and produce more and better-equipped, talented cricketers.
Basketball
Basketball’s success at the OECS 3 x 3 Tournament should give rise to a new and well-planned impetus on the shorter, more fast-paced version of the game. Here again, rural communities can take the lead.
The requirements for 3 x 3 basketball facilities are not too onerous, and communities can seize the initiative. The leadership of the sport can work with the local Sport for All Movement of the National Olympic Committee (NOC), in tandem with the national Vincy Moves initiative to engage communities in active living across St Vincent and the Grenadines.
Youths can hone the 3 x 3 basketball skills at an early age and positively impact their engagement, at once, at the community, school and national sport levels, bringing new dynamism, respect and national recognition to areas not currently benefiting from such.
Sailing
The establishment of a Sailing Academy in St Vincent and the Grenadines has already begun to allow Vincentian youth to get more involved in the sport. The achievements of the young sailors at regional and international competitions are showing that we possess the talent and that, with the appropriate facilities and equipment, the youths can match strides with the Caribbean’s best.
The Ministry of Tourism’s growing interest in sport tourism can reap immense benefits from greater local challenges in our already existing regattas as well as the gradual expansion of the fledgling sailing academy. Indeed, the regattas themselves will also grow into much larger and more attractive events on the nation’s annual sporting calendar.
Swimming
Open water swimming is likely to grow in St Vincent and the Grenadines. The community in Central Leeward has hitched itself to a project aimed at transforming the area into the major national open water swimming hub.
Collaboration between the Ministry that addresses the development of community welfare, the Central Leeward community, the swimming association and the NOC’s Sport for All Commission can open up opportunities for interest, growth and development of open water swimming, now an integral component of the annual calendar of competitions of World Aquatics.
Known for fishing, Central Leeward now wants to get deeply involved in learning-to-swim programmes that also serve as safe swimming sessions for all age groups and encourage swimming as part of the healthy lifestyle mandate of all of St Vincent and the Grenadines. The competitive aspect of open water swimming will excite the local population but serve to attract swimmers from across the nation and possibly bolster increased participation at the level of the St Vincent and the Grenadines Swimming Association.
If the Open Water Swimming Hub comes to fruition, it should not take long for St Vincent and the Grenadines to increase its options in terms of water sports, a well-known global attraction.
There is also the possibility that this country could seek to construct a major national swimming pool to encourage more athletes into competitive swimming, which can be located to facilitate the hosting of major international swimming competitions. What the Swimming Association has achieved over the years is indeed remarkable, especially when one considers the challenges faced in getting to where it is today, hosting OECS Swimming Championships, even when others have unfortunately found it not possible to do so at the time.
We do, however, need to move on to the next step, which has to do with inputs from the government and private sector into transforming our country into a major competitive swimming destination and producing successive generations of swimmers.
Football
Football’s continued development of its facilities at Brighton is an important step in the right direction.
For some time, it appeared as though not enough attention was being paid to the application of the federation’s resources to the development of its home into an international standard facility capable of servicing the sport’s growth and development. The hope is that the new additions will lead to greater attention to collaborating with schools and communities to showcase the immense potential of sport, especially football.
Football is still the nation’s most popular sport and best financially supported by its international federation, FIFA. It is a sport that offers tremendous opportunities to its stakeholders and is exemplary in its contribution to national development.
The Vincentian beneficiaries of the training opportunities offered and accessed must each take on the challenges of the sport with both hands, aware of and committed to sport as a pillar of national development in this country. The examples set could do much for the rapidly changing culture of sport in St Vincent and the Grenadines and indeed, the broader national culture in general.
In Our Hands
It has often been said that the future of any country lies in the hands of its citizens. Vincentians have every opportunity, now, to put this to the test.
There is now in place a new government composed of a mix of generations and genders, with new and innovative ideas, desirous of becoming the embodiment of the hopes and dreams of the entire society they have the privilege to govern. New opportunities are on offer, and every Vincentian must take hold of their talents and commit to their utilisation to facilitate making this country a better place for ourselves and future generations.
Sport is on the improve. All stakeholders of sport can and must contribute to doing their part to help us, as a nation, fully realise our immeasurable potential.
Time is of the essence!
