|
|
 |
|
|
Faster, Stronger, Better
(10 August 2000) - Richard Peterkin, president of St. Lucia's Olympic Committee, this week named the island's team to the 2000 Summer Olympics, which will be held next month in Sydney, Australia. The team includes Ronald Promesse in the men's 100m dash andDominic Johnson in the men's pole vault. Both met the top qualifying standard in their respective events. Verneta Lesforis made the B standard in the women's 400m dash, whereas swimmers Jamie Peterkin and Sherri Scobie-Henry, in the men's and women's 50m freestyle, failed to make the qualifying times in their events, but each was awarded an invitation card.
The current Olympic team is smaller thant the one to Atlanta, but it's better, never mind two of the atheltes are unchanged. Ronald Promesse at 21 was a wide-eyed kid just getting ready to go to University. National champion though he was, he was little known outside track and field circles. Now, he's imporved by half a second in the 100m dash, nearly good enough to rank him among the big boys. At 26, tempered at the Univeristy of Texas el Paso, with consistent preparartion and a positive mindset, the Vieux Fort native is ready to run a little over ten seconds flat - if he does that, he gets past a round or three and raises eyebrows.
There's no better pole vaulter in the Caribbean than Central American and Caribbean champion Johnson, but then, there're not that many pole vaulters in the region period. Dom's competition will come from Europe and the United States, and he's actually not far behind the athletes from those nations. Dom's career-best leap is 5.65m and he has been very consistent at 5.60 but he's aiming beyond that. Earlier this year, he had set the bar at 5.85, and even though he's not on course for that mark right now, he could be in the running for a while.
Verneta is a wildcard, insofar as nobody has heard much from her since she won the women's 400 at the Central American and Caribbean Games in Barbados over a year ago. She's graduated Southwest Missouri State Univeristy an academic All-American, so she's clearly a bright young woman. We can only assume that the first CAC champ from Marchand is ready to go.
The swimmers failed, Peterkin narrowly, to make an automatic grade in their event, but they'll do well in Sydney. Their measure of success will be swimming better than they ever have, and both are capable of doing just that. Jamie's father, Richard, is the swim coach in this delegation, and he says they'll both do career-best times. That'll be great encouragement for Jamie's coaches at the Univeristy of Kentucky, where he's enrolled as a freshman this year.
All in all, don't expect medals, or even finals. That's the word from Richard Peterkin, and he's probably right, but our success at these Games won't depend on winning. These athletes represent a stage in our continuing development, and if each can imporve on his best preformances, we ought to be thrilled, because all five will contend for spots at the Athens Olympics in 2004, where they'll be faster, stronger and better still. Maybe tthen we can talk medals.
ñ BACK TO TOP OF PAGE ..
52 Years of Experience
(17 August 2000) - Germaine Altifois is the unqestioned leader of the St. Lucia national netball team. She's captain of the island's most successful club (Shamrock) and she combines tremendous doses of tirelessness and consistency at goal attack. Just entering her late twenties, this girl is a model of what an athlete ought to be, excellent on the court, intelligent and articulate off. Upon her leadership lie St. Lucia's hopes of doing well this week at the Caribbean Netball Championships in Nevis.
Make no mistake, though, Germaine will have plenty of help from her friends. Most of them have been teammates for years and the one debutante, centre court sensation Martha Betty Isidore, gives the impression that they all treat her like a little sister. The big sisters, though, are national fixtures: Altifois, Barbara Joseph-Theobalds, Michelle Rogers, Sherma Benti and Delia Samuel. Some are former West Indies players, award-winners at previous Caribbean tournaments. and all eager to prove their championship credentials to the rest of the region.
Talent has never been a problem for St. Lucia; former Jamaica national captain Connie Francis did a coaching stint with the St. Lucians recently, and she said that this team always gave Jamaica fits, but they just never were able to come through in the fourth quarter. That was the case when the Caribbean tournament was held at the Vigie Multi-Purpose Sports Complex two years ago,sans Jamaica, sans Trindiad and Tobago. The home team was experienced and fit, they appeared set to keep the title in St. Lucia, but they lost narrowly to Barbados and to St. Vincnet and the Grenadines, in part because the St. Lucians were just too maddeningly inconsistent.
This team is perhaps better than that which played at home in '98, with some younger girls really competing, especially for centre court and defensive positions. Winger Nyasha Savoury is one of the less experienced members of this team, but she is a genuine contributor to a frenetic, smothering defensive unit. Isidore boasts that she may be just as good as Rogers, a former OECS U23 Most Valuable Player and former West Indies player. On court, she works hard enough that if those words aren't true now, they may be a lot sooner than some might believe.
Myself, I don't think we can take the championship, not from Jamaica, one of the top teams in the world. Beating our bogey women from Barbados and SVG, though, can be considered a pretty big step for this team. That they can do, that they've been prepared to do, not just this year, but for all their combined decades of netball experience. Now it's left to the players to play the games.
ñ BACK TO TOP OF PAGE ..
A St. Lucian In Paris
(10 August 2000) - Ewan Auguste's senior season at Division II Washburn University in Topeka Kansas is several months away, but the 1999-2000 All-American warmed up this summer with a tour of France with the WU Ichabods basketall team.
After three days of sightseeing and no practices, the Ichabods had a good idea of what to expect when they saw another French sight for the first time -- a basketball court. They were expecting to be a bit rusty against an athletic though turnover-prone French club team from Argenteuil, but the Ichabods' balanced scoring attack and pressure defense helped them to an impressive 85-63 victory in game one of their Paris tour. 6'8" forward/centre Ewan was joint second in scoring with 12 points.
The second game iof the Paris visit was also the last for Washburn, against the same semi-pro Argenteuil side. It was another impressive victory, but marred by fighting and other incidents The game was won 81-64, but after the Ichabods discovered someone had broken into their dressing room and stolen passports, airline tickets, cash and some personal possessions. The documents eventually were recovered. The money and other items, including Ewan Auguste's CD player and wallet, weren't.
On the court, a scuffle broke out when a French player and an Ichabod got a little too physical with one another. Rugged play from the Frenchmen may have been a result of Washburn's dominance in the scoring column. In addition to Ewan's 19 points and 11 rebounds, Randolph Williams had 12 points and eight rebounds, Eric Carter 11 and 11. Ewan converted nine of ten field goal attempts and one of two free throws.
ñ BACK TO TOP OF PAGE ..
Southern Shaq
(18 August 2000) - Former national forward/centre Anthony Joseph should be nicknamed "Amok" and not "Bock" because he's running the former. Playing like LA Lakers pivot Shaquille O'Neal in the South Coast Basketball tournament, Joseph has averaged 20 points and 12 rebounds through twelve games, including Roots Alley Ballers' semifinal playoff series win over Knights. Roots Alley, losers of only one game in those twelve, defeated Knights 68-55 in Game 2 of their best-of-three series. Joseph ahd 22 points, 16 rebounds and three assists.
Roots Alley now await the winners of the other semifinal series, between Square United and Dragons. In a tense defensive battle, Dragons upset Square 32-30 in Game 1, but whichever team emerges from that bracket will have to search long and hard for an answer to the big threat posed by Bock.
Just a quick note, though. This tournament is the only organised basketball played in St. Lucia this year, and that's a very poor reflection on the national governing body. The current executive was voted in some six months ago, and they've yet to show slate. Remy Avril Jr, one of the men behind South Coast Basketball, says the competition is the result of a dearth of tournaments on the island. "We needed to do this to show people what we can do down here." Crowd support has been fantastic, and the finals begin Wednesday evening.
ñ BACK TO TOP OF PAGE ..
Busy Bolo
 (15 August 2000) - It's been an eventful month and a half for David "Bolo" Flavius, a St. Lucian forward playing for the Pittsburgh Riverhounds in the American National Professional Soccer League. In three games between late July and early August, he recorded seven goals, including a hat-trick. Prior to his scoring spree he had netted only twice for the season.
Inserted in the starting lineup for the fifth consecutive game, Bolo was shown a red card 21 minutes into an encounter with the Richmond Kickers, a game the Hounds would go on to lose 2-1.
Returning to the side for an away game at the Claude Robillard Sports Complex, Bolo scored the game-winning goal after thirteen minutes of extra time against the Montreal Impact. It was the Hounds' first road win this season, and they're now in good position to secure an NPSL playoff spot. Bolo's goal was his tenth this season and his second game-winning extra time strike.
The 28-year-old, a one time national youth player, is the all-time leading scorer at his alma mater, Ohio Dominican College.
ñ BACK TO TOP OF PAGE ..
OECS Making Squash Push
(14 August 2000) - For the first time, St. Lucia is hosting the Southern Caribbean Squash Championships, continuing this week at the St. Lucia Yacht Club. Ninety-six players were invited from six territories (sixty-four have been confirmed at the time of writing) and this promises to be the biggest squash tournament ever on the island.
Five St. Lucians are on the OECS team, which has high hopes for this competition. Men's number one seed Charlie Sonson is the top player in the OECS, and he knows he'll have atough time in individual play, with Guyana and Venezuela boasting some very strong players. Numbers two and three, Karl Nassief of St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Jason Noon of St. Lucia, are unable to play this year.
Cheryl Renwick, Lily Bergasse, Carol Dodd and OECS women's number one Alana Simmons are the female members of the OECS team, which is sponsored by Cable & Wireless. The OECS ended fifth at the last Southern Caribbean tournament, and they will be hoping for significantly better fortunes on home ground.
ñ BACK TO TOP OF PAGE ..
As Old As You Feel
(10 August 2000) - Jimmy James and Ezra Jn Baptiste both won medals recently at the United States Wushu Kungfu Federation's Festival and Championships in Baltimore, Maryland. Over fifty countries were represented at the Championships.
In the sixty-six years and over division, James won silver. Jn Baptiste captured bronze in the 45 years and under category. It's the first time St. Lucia has been represented at an international tai chi event.
Persons interested in tai chi can call Jn Baptiste at 452 3986 for information.
ñ BACK TO TOP OF PAGE ..
|
|
