St. Lucia Online: Sports Extra

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From The OECS Sports Desk
- Michael Ollivierre:  OECS Sports Coordinator -

OECS Scholarship Pilot Programme Gets Off

 St. Lucian sprinter Jimmy Henry is the first person to benefit from a sport scholarship pilot programme set up by the Sports Desk in the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States. Michael Ollivierre, the OECS Sports Coordinator, earlier this year announced arrangements arrived at with three Jamaican institutions: GC Foster Technical College, University of Technology and the University of the West Indies (Mona Campus). OECS nationals fulfilling the necessary academic requirements and with a recognised sporting background will be eligible to take up a limited number of scholarships at these institutions.
Henry is a member of St. Lucia's Morne Stars Track Club, a men's invitational 100m dash gold medallist earlier this year in the at the NCB/SLDB National Junior Track and Field Championships. He is one of several individuals who were given the opportunity to pursue studies in Jamaica under this pilot programme, but for one reason or another, several of the eligible candidates were unable to take advantage of the scholarship offer at this time.
Ollivierre says that he's not disappointed by the lack of response in the first instance. "We realise that there may be a number of contributing factors: the Olympics, the lack of advance time for the athletes to get the necessary paperwork and so on. Also, this is the first time we're doing this, so people I guess really don't know about it yet." The Sports Coordinator feels, however, that if this programme is successful it will mean a lot to sports in the sub-region. Pointing to the superior facilities and training methods enjoyed by Jamaican athletes, he is of the opinion that once OECS athletes can seize their chances, they'll do well.

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Brian's View
- Brian McDonald -

New Facilities Good For St. Lucian Sports

Athletes and the sporting public here in St. Lucia have been crying out for the establishment of high standard and top class international sporting facilities on the island.
There's been construction of the Vigie Multipurpose Sports Complex, despite its limitations, which has served the volleyball, netball and basketball associations quite well in staging their various competitions.
There has also been the construction of multipurpose courts in almost every community in St. Lucia, well lighted and with efforts being made to have them well kept. A number of playing fields around the island have been upgraded and there are attempts being made to improve on others. Plans are also on stream for the construction of new playing fields and attempts are also being made to put basic facilities in place at these grounds, that is dressing room, changing facilities etc.
Despite all that, there still remains a lot to be done and the St. Lucian Government has recognised this as well as a number of sporting organisations and private entities. In the next few years, a number of major international standard sporting facilities will be constructed here. Already two others have been completed.
The Rodney Heights Aquatic centre, home of a 25-metre swimming pool which has already hosted a number of invitational meets. The construction of the pool was an initiative by private company Venture Limited and the St. Lucia Amateur Swimming Association with assistance from the St. Lucian Government. There are plans to add some more to the facility to bring it to world class standards.
Another is the country's first 18-hole golf course, at the Cap Estate Golf and Country Club. The fully irrigated 100-acre golf course cost $10 million to upgrade. The Championship Course is expected to put St. Lucia on the sporting map in terms of hosting prestigious tournaments. One of them is the Caribbean Association Championships slated to take place there in 2004.
Two other major facilities expected here are the Football Centre of Excellence at Club St. Lucia in conjunction with the hotel and the Football Association, and a major football ground with the assistance of FIFA under its GOAL Project. Plans for those two are still being formulated and finalized and we expect to hear more on those in the coming months.
Another major international facility is a National Tennis Centre. Extra land, which forms part of a 23-acre parcel purchased by Government principally for the construction of a National Cricket Ground at Beausejour in Gros Islet, is to be used for the erection of the National Tennis Centre. Word of this came at the opening of the XVII Annual ITF Coca-Cola Junior International Tennis Tournament held at Club St. Lucia's Racquet Club in August. The St. Lucia Tennis Association says they're dedicated to the establishment of a National Tennis Centre in St. Lucia to be used for the development of tennis generally on the island and where tennis of an international nature can be played.
The most prestigious and biggest sporting facilities to be established here in the next few years are the National Cricket Ground and the long-awaited National Stadium. The Cricket Ground, being built at Beausejour in Gros Islet, is expected to be one of the most modern facilities for the game in the Caribbean and will put St. Lucia in line to host a number of international tams and be on the West Indies Cricket Board itinerary for international matches. With the West Indies to host the 2007 cricket World Cup, definitely we can see one of the matches being played in St. Lucia. The funding for the construction of the ground will come from the National Lotteries Authority.
It was also announced at the ground-breaking ceremony for the construction of the ground that a ring road around the ground will be used as a circuit for cyclists to concentrate on road circuit racing where there is no hindrance from vehicular traffic.
The National Stadium being built by the Chinese Government will be located at St. Urbain in Vieux Fort and will be one of the most modern in the Caribbean. The stadium will have an international standard size football field and a 400-metre track. There are also plans for an adjacent facility somewhere near the stadium area or within it for some indoor facilities for sports such as table tennis, basketball, volleyball and netball, which could be played indoors.
With the establishment of all those facilities, St. Lucia stands to be one of the islands in the Caribbean with the most modern facilities for track and field, football, tennis, cricket, swimming and golf. It will be good to have all those international sports facilities here, but will that change our sporting fortunes and see our sports on the improve?
That's a question you and I are left to ponder.

Ponder away at http://www.slucia.com/sportstalk.html

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