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Swimmers On Course For OECS Title
Officials are hoping the new Rodney heights Aquatic Centre, coupled with outstanding performances from local swimmers at the trials two weeks ago for the 1999 Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Swimming Championships - taking place here 19-20 February - will constitute a winning formula for overthrowing a powerful Grenadian team.
President of the St Lucia Amateur Swimming Association, David Peterkin, is counting on it. Grenada are prohibitive favorites, having won four consecutive titles. Peterkin, though, feels that St. Lucia's 34-member squad comprises swimmers capable of putting the host territory back on top. High on his list, in the eight and under division, there's Danny Beaubrun and Brittany Eames, who won all her races during the trials. In the girls 9-10 age group, Christy Beaubrun is one to keep an eye on.
In the 13-14 age group Kahli Bowen and Peter James are listed among the team's strongest swimmers. Also in that age division are Daniella Banus and Jacqueline Bergasse. The 15-17 age group for girls is simply a case of quality not quantity. The team's only representative is Sherri Scobie-Henry who's having an outstanding season while attending school in Trinidad. In the boy's division great things are expected from Jamie Peterkin who studies and competes in Florida.
Other team members are as follows: Aneleise Beaubrun, Sophia Cranfield, Natasha George, Che Bowen, Jamie Newell, Nick Peterkin, Simon McIntosh, Richard Johnny, Fred Worrell, Brad Worrell, David Worrell, Leslie Cranefielo, Felix Meixner, Jean Luc Augier, Jonathon Calderon, Josephine Devaux, Cory Devaux, Dominique Rivers, Robin Eames, Safiya Paul, Mikela Devaux, Tiffany Antrobus and Scot Barnard.
Peterkin is hoping the team can put together a number of practice sessions to familiarize themselves with the new pool. Keep in mind, most of their training sessions took place at hotel facilities which are adequate but certainly don't compare with the new pool which is 25 metres, and conforms to FINA (world governing body for aquatic sports) short course championship standards.
The EC$2 million Aquatic Centre which is located on a one acre parcel of land at Rodney Heights is owned by Venture Limited, a St Lucian company. General Manager Gilda De Veer-Spencer heads the management team. Venture is the first private sector company to finance a sports facility in St Lucia. Construction began in October 1999, and was expected to be completed last December. However the general manager explained that there were problems associated with excavation work.
Everything is back on track. The grand opening for the first phase of the Aquatic Centre is set for February 18. Phase one consists of the 25-metre pool along with a recreation/concession area, locker rooms with showers, toilets and a pro shop. Phase two - expected to be completed by mid-year - will house a gym and multipurpose room.
The German design pool employs Myrtha Technology that is "state-of-the-art" in aquatic facilities worldwide. The disinfecting and sanitation systems used are fully computerized, allowing for low maintenance and a continuously high level of water quality. The pool is designed with the same technology as the Olympic water polo pool in Atlanta.
Besides competitive swimming, the facility will be used for scuba and swim instruction, water aerobics, life saving, physical therapy and for people with disabilities. Memberships will be available to individuals, families and guests.
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Johnson, Jn Marie, Verena, Verneta Head 1999 Sports Awardees
(15 February) - It looks like a head to head battle between Dominic Johnson and Emerson "Ti Loy" Jn Marie this weekend, as the Ministry of Youth and Sports prepares to announce the Sports Personalities of the Year for 1999. The awards ceremony will be held Saturday 19 at the National Cultural Centre, and it's almost certain that either Johnson or Jn Marie will be the senior male awardee. Their credentials could not be much more different.
Jn Marie hails from Vieux Fort, where he plays for Roots Alley Ballers, a side he led to two national titles in 1999. He was by far the leading scorer in local competition, with 46 goals from 39 matches. In six Heineken FA Cup matches, he scored sixteen goals. Emerson also won the Vieux Fort league with Roots, whence he has since transferred to join the Trinidad Professional League. He helped Vieux Fort win the inter-district crown, and his goals helped St. Lucia win a triangular tournament in Guyana.
By contrast, Dominic did all his damage overseas. He led St. Lucia to a fifth place finish at the Central American and Caribbean Track and Field Championships. His unprecedented pole vault gold medal - and CAC record - came seconds after he ran the lead leg for a team that set a new 4x100m national record. After being named Most Outstanding Athlete at CAC, he competed at the Pan-Am Games and World Championships, failing to add to his medal tally, but resetting the 4x100m record twice more.
Among the women, Verena and Verneta (Lesforis and Felicien) are obvious front-runners. Cricketer Verena - Personality of the Year 1996 - led her club team, Toughest Wrecking Crew, to another national title last year. She captained St. Lucia to one of two titles at the Caribbean Championships in Jamaica, setting the table for her return to the captaincy of the West Indies team. Verena's an administrator as well, successfully presiding over the women's game in St. Lucia and the wider Caribbean.
Verneta, a student at Southwest Missouri State University, became last June the first St. Lucian ever to take a gold medal at an international meet, winning the 400m at the CAC Games. In the process, Verneta set a new national record in the event - she also ran on the 4x100m relay team that reset the national record at those Games. Verneta represented St. Lucia again at the Pan-American Games in Winnipeg, Canada, and only injury prevented her from going to the World Championships.
The dark horses for the senior accolades are the martial artists of the year, Patrick Edward and Kim Newton, both of whom performed creditably in domestic, regional and international competition. National junior high jump record holder Laverne Spencer, martial artist Leandra Xavier, netballer Sarah Alexander, special Olympian Nyler Isidore and swimmer Brittany Ames are contending for junior female Personality of the Year. The boys are Damian Henville (track), Gairy Mathurin (cricket), Kenall Severin (special Olympics), Marlon James (swimming) and Dayne Williams (volleyball).
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Cricket BGM: A Lawman And A Teacher
(9 February 2000) - The St. Lucia National Cricket Association announced recently that the dates for the Association's Biennial General Meeting have been established, following a board of management meeting last month. A source within the Association says that a notice to that effect was to have been disseminated to the media on 22 January, but at least five sports editors have asserted that they were never in receipt of that correspondence. The BGM will be held 26-27 of this month at the Gros Islet Community Centre beginning from 10 each morning.
Among the principal items on the agenda for the post-Independence meeting will be planning for domestic and sub-regional senior and age group cricket competitions. The BGM will also see the election of officers for the ensuing period. Former national cricket captain and current superintendent of police Hermangild Francis is among the candidates for the Association's leadership; he was recently elected to head the Castries Cricket Association. His likely opponent will be national cricket selector and former teacher Gilroy Satney.
Other nominees have yet to declare their hands to the national media, although Brian Calixte, the coach of the national under-fifteen cricket team, has said that he will not be contesting the presidency. Calixte, a former national player, made an unsuccessful bid for the presidency in 1997.
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St. Lucians Stumble In CAC Run
(9 February 2000) - The St. Lucian team placed fourth overall in the XVII Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Cross-Country Championships at the weekend in Cartagena, Colombia. The majority of the St. Lucian team returned to the island Tuesday, after losing out to Jamaica by one point for the bronze medal. Had they beaten out Jamaica, St. Lucia would have recorded their fourth consecutive third place finish.
One member of the national team said that he enjoyed the run, but he went on to say that the course was poorly set out and the race itself was badly organised - runners took off on the 12-mile course beneath the midday sun. Although the host territory were known to be the overall winners, and podium places for both the men's and women's races were posted, full individual results were not made immediately available.
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FA: Foundling Association?
(9 February 2000) - The National Football Association says that it has so far failed to secure the use of the Mindoo Philip Park for three internationals this month. Antigua is to arrive here next week for a friendly international, with Martinique to follow for a game on the 23rd. The FA will also host Martinique in the return leg of a Caribbean Football Union under-fifteen tie. The situation is getting dire: the first round of qualifying begins next month for the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan. St. Lucia's first round opponent will be Suriname.
The Mindoo Philip Park has not been used for football since the FA Cup final some months ago. Instead, the Park has been used either for cricket or track and field. Several cricketing fixtures are planned for the stadium this year. The FA says that because of the Park's unavailability, it has had to turn down several teams that wanted to visit St. Lucia in recent months. This has led to a loss of revenue for the FA and a less than ideal situation in which the national team was forced to travel overseas to get match practice.
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Baker's Dozen
 (9 February 2000) - At least twelve St. Lucian footballers are to begin play with four teams in three different countries this week. Valencius Joseph and Jonathan "Borgia" McVane, Alvin Xavier and Elijah Joseph are all returning to W Connection Football Club in the Trinidad and Tobago Craven A Professional Football League. That quartet will be joined by Roots Alley Ballers winger Sheldon Mark and Northern United defender Francis "Baba" Lastic. Lastic recently led the national team on their unbeaten tour of the northern Caribbean.
Three other St. Lucians - defender Oliver Elva, prolific striker Emerson "Ti Loy" Jn Marie and winger Sheldon Emmanuel - will be joining Caledonian AIA from double champions Roots Alley Ballers. Oliver's elder brother, Titus "Titi" Elva, is looking to move to Caledonian from W Connection. Caledonian will be playing their first season in the PFL beginning in March. Another player moving on from WCFC is national captain Earl "Ball Hog" Jean, who has now been confirmed on loan with Hibernian in the Scottish Premier League.
Also looking to catch on with a new team is Ricardo Greenidge, a 29 year old sweeper (formerly of Northern United and Pioneers) who began a trial period earlier this week with the Long Island Roughriders in the North American Professional Soccer League. The NAPSL - also known as the A League - is one step away from Major League Soccer, the top tier of club football in North America. If he is successful, Greenidge would join national midfielder Ricardo Blanchard with the Roughriders.
(Photo: Earl Jean with coaching legend Bobby Robson)
Soon to come - a feature article on St. Lucia's overseas-based footballers.
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Magloire, Taking A Long View
(8 February 2000) - St. Lucian long jumper Dane Magloire has been rated as one of the top ten athletes in two events at Division II of the American National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA). Competing as a sophomore for St. Augustine's College in North Carolina, Dane is third in the long jump and sixth in the triple jump, following a strong outing in a recent meet at Lynchburg, Virgina.
Dane cleared 7.31m (23'11.75") in the long jump and 14.92m (48'11") in the triple jump, well short of his personal marks. His best in the long jump is 7.62m, and he holds the triple jump national record with a clearance of 15.85m. His personal long jump record was set in regional competition during 1998, and his triple jump record last year at the NCAA Championships, where he took silver.
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It's All To Run For In Cartagena Cross-Country
(3 February 2000) An eight-member St. Lucian team is contesting the XVII Central American and Caribbean Cross-Country Championship this weekend in Cartagena, Colombia. The original team, under the management and coaching of Andrew Magloire, was announced two weeks ago, and there have since been two changes.
24-year old Zepherinus Joseph is the biggest addition to the team. He was sixth (the best ever finish by a St. Lucian) when St. Lucia hosted the 1999 CAC Champs. Zeph is on scholarship at Central Arizona College in the United States, where he was second in December's National Junior College Athletics Association cross-country championship.
Michael Cosmay comes into the squad as replacement for John Gaston, who begged out of the Cartagena trip. Stephen Asson gets his first taste of big-time competition. Great things will be expected of the young but talented Wayne St. Ange, and veteran Victor Ledgers - at 32 years of age - is just getting into his prime as a distance runner.
The women's team, which will be competing on Saturday, remains intact, with distance queens Candia Esnard and Juliana Actie teaming up to make a bid for CAC honours. Joining them will be Priscilla Emmanuel, who had strong performances in the cross-country trial runs conducted last month by the Amateur Athletics Association.
For the past three years, the St. Lucians have held on to third place in the CAC Championships. This year, if Zepherinus and Ledgers perform to the best of their ability, they should finish in the top ten individuals. Candia and Juliana are good enough to challenge the women's field. In the right circumstances, St. Lucia could be eyeing CAC gold.
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Ball Hog: Bouncing Back to Britain?
(31 January 2000) - It had been rumoured for the better part of the month: St. Lucian centre forward and captain of the national football team Earl "Ball Hog" Jean was being courted by Hibernian, one of the top teams in the Scottish Premier League. Playing for Vibe CT 105 W Connection Football Club in Trinidad and Tobago's Professional Football League, Ball Hog potted against the Scots when they toured the twin island republic in mid January. He also trained with Hibs during their Trini tour, and from all reports he made a very favourable impression on manager Alex McLeish.
Earl left St. Lucia for Hibs' Easter Road ground and an eight-day trial Saturday last. McLeish says he'd "like to see how [Earl] travels," but Earl is experienced and well-travelled, and he has a head start in more ways than one. He's played in Europe, first on the Continent (in Portugal) and then in the English First Division. He's used to the conditions, and he's got a friend at Hibernian, in the person of Russell Latapy, the Trinidadian midfielder known as the Little Magician. The two played together in Portugal, and the revival of their partnership could spell trouble for Scottish football.
Ball Hog will be sorely missed in the PFL - last season he netted 36 times in the League's inaugural season, second only to Trinidadian Arnold Dwarika. Earl guided Connection to three different Cup finals. They won the FA Cup and the right to contest the Football Confederation 2000 club championship. Stuart Charles-Fevrier, the St. Lucian who is W Connection's head coach, will be hard pressed to make up for the goals (and the leadership) Earl provided to his team, especially with a couple of other key defections looming. Surely, though, Charles-Fevrier's loss is Hibs' gain.
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Sirsean Slips Out of St. Lucia Silently
(28 January 2000) - Sirsean Arlain, the number one senior men's tennis player in St. Lucia for 1999, left the island earlier this week to take up studies at Greensboro College in North Carolina. Having turned nineteen on 1 January, Sirsean says that he wants to get serious about his tennis and his academics.
At Greensboro he'll be expected to contribute to a solid tennis team under Coach Kim Strable. In the classroom, his major area of study is undeclared, but Sirsean says that he selected Greensboro because the small private college "has a strong academic background, and that's what I'm looking for."
Sirsean previously attended Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana in 1998, but he explained that the atmosphere and the timing of the move were just not right for him. Last year Averett College - another North Carolina school - was also courting Sirsean. "I think this decision is the right one for me," he says.
Last year Sirsean was one of two St. Lucian junior players participating in a month-long training camp at the Performance Tennis Academy in Florida. Under the auspices of the International Tennis Federation, Arlain and St. Lucian number two Yves Sinson were coached in match tactics and physical preparation.
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Ewan and the Ichabods Win Lucky Seven in a Row
(27 January 2000) - Basketball forward Ewan Auguste is definitely on his way to all-Conference honours in the Mid-American Intercollegiate Athletics Association. Excellence is becoming almost commonplace for the 6'8" junior centre from St. Lucia, as he's a consistent team leader in just about every offensive and defensive category. His latest feats came in a tight win for his Washburn University Ichabods over Northwest Missouri State.
It was the seventh consecutive conference win for Washburn, who beat Northwest Missouri 72-63. Ewan connected on 6 of 9 field goal attempts and 2 of 4 tries from the free throw line to lead all scorers with 14 points. The balanced Ichabods team had four players in double figures. Ewan also led the team in rebounding, corralling ten loose caroms for another double double. Ewan added a solitary assist to help his side to victory.
Washburn are tied first in the MIAA with fourteen wins, two losses.
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French Flavour for Mon Repos Road Relay
(27 January 2000) - Plans are afoot for the 12th Annual Mon Repos Road Relay, and organisers are promising a twist in the tale for the Y2K run. First of all, this year the run will be cemented as a commemorative exercise for the 21st anniversary of Independence, coming as it does on 20 January - two days before Independence Day, just in case you're not keeping up. Second, it's expected to be the biggest ever road relay, with a record number of teams already beginning to register.
Aside from the large number of local runners expected to take part in the eight-stage race, the Road Relay has attracted attention from a French neighbour. The Director of Sports from Martinique paid a courtesy visit to St. Lucia's Permanent Secretary for Youth and Sports recently. The French official declared after that meeting that three of his territory's most prestigious road running clubs - L Marie Sportif, ASC Police and Club Palien - would be sending teams to the Mon Repos event.
The stiffest challenge to the Frenchmen will most likely come from the Roadbusters, the premier domestic running club. The first team crossing the finish line will be rewarded with a $1000 cheque from Mon Repos' Youth and Sports Council and sponsor Windward and Leeward Brewery Ltd.
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SALCC Marks Laureate Week With U20 B'ball Win
(27 January 2000) The Sir Arthur Lewis Community College defeated the Vieux Fort Comprehensive Secondary School Wednesday to win the M&M Under Twenty Schools' Basketball Competition. The comfortable 86-67 victory was set up by Rasheed Richards, who led SALCC with 27 points. Ernest Cherry added a further 21 to nail down the only W that matters.
Halfway through Nobel Laureate Week, Sir Arthur would be proud. Vieux Fort were never in it, despite a fine effort from Sham Hunte, who scored 31 points and pulled down a dozen rebounds. The next highest scorer for Vieux Fort was Jason Chitolie with 15; he connected thrice from beyond the arc. Frank Baptiste had 12 points, 13 boards, 3 blocks and 4 steals. Ewanesque.
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Another Step Towards National Stadium
(27 January 2000) - An official signing ceremony between the governments of St. Lucia and the People's Republic of China ought to see work beginning in March on the island's National Stadium. The ceremony took place on Wednesday. Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Youth and Sports Ernest Hilaire says that within the next five weeks the local authorities will begin preparing the site - leveling the land, compacting the soil and so on - so everything can be handed over to the Chinese in May or June.
The stadium, which will accommodate an all-weather track and a grass pitch, is being built at St. Urbain in Vieux Fort. Hilaire says that the project ought to be finished in 2002. When completed, the National Stadium will seat some fifteen thousand people. The Chinese will install eight thousand seats, and the St. Lucian government will be charged with finding the other seven thousand. It was recently agreed that a car park would be incorporated into the basic plan for the National Stadium.
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Kunta Pays Immediate Dividends for Concordia Volleyball
(26 January 2000) - Twenty-two year old national volleyball player and former volleyball player of the year Ayinde Kunta Williams played his first competitive game for Concordia University this week, and he had an instantaneous impact. Playing as a setter and as a libero, Kunta helped his team to an easy victory in straight sets.
The former Jetsetters player had three serves, two of them aces. "I got playing time and did great," says Kunta. "It's a lot of fun." Concordia's coach was impressed with the St. Lucian freshman, who only enrolled at the school this month. His coach claims that Kunta is already one of the best defensive players on the team.
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Zandos Inexperienced, But Enthusiasm Impresses on Trinidad Trip
(25 January 2000) - St. Lucia's national rugby football team - the Zandolis - returned to the island Monday, having contested the 7s World Cup Qualifying Tournament (Caribbean Zone) the previous weekend in Trinidad and Tobago. The host territory won the tournament with a 19-10 victory over Bermuda at the Hasely Crawford Stadium. The Trinidad and Tobago team earned a trip to Chile in May for the next round of qualifying. In the process they justified their top seeding in the Caribbean Zone.
Overcoming their seeding were the Cayman Islands and St. Lucia, seeded seventh and eighth respectively. The Caymans actually won their group and finished in the top half of the draw. The Zandolis, on the other hand, took some time to warm up, losing all three opening round matches before coming alive on Day Two to end sixth overall. St. Lucia was shut out by the Caymans, but it was a different story in their second game, against the Bahamas. Unfortunately it all ended with a loss against Guyana.
Going into the second day of play, St. Lucia was down to seven somewhat healthy players from a squad of ten. Their most experienced player, Kent St. Catherine played the first half of one game before coming out injured. He was forced back into action when Colvis Samuels and Emmanuel Bastien went down and stayed down. Michael Cowing hardly looked like the seasoned campaigner he is, and that was largely down to a bum ankle. The St. Lucians had more injuries than any side in Trinidad.
The first day's play had given the St. Lucians the steel they would need on day two, and they came out throwing caution to the wind and their bodies at their opponents. For a time, they frustrated the normally unflappable Cayman Islanders, and though their resolve never gave, the Zandolis were outclassed. It had begun to look like more of the same against Bahamas, with St. Lucia 10-0 down at the half. It was one of their best performances of the competition, and there was much more to come.
Just into the second half, Lloyd "Lenny" Yarde got a breakaway going with Jerry Charles on the wing, kicking the ball ahead and moving towards a guaranteed score. The referee failed to see the Bahamian impeding Yarde, but momentum had clearly swung. Seconds after that near miss, Charles broke away with sheer pace, crossing the line and giving the underdogs a chance. He would score again on a near instant replay moments later to level the scores; St. Catherine had the go-ahead conversion.
With plans afoot for a West Indies rugby football team, Jerry Charles may have run himself into the reckoning for regional recognition. He needs to become a more rounded player, but his speed and size make him a pretty useful winger. The selectors will also have looked at St. Catherine, who played well in spite of his injury. The unsung hero for St. Lucia, though, must have been Akim Herbert - Charles' roommate - who was a handful for the opposition with his size and aggression at both ends.
Several commentators were surprised at the enthusiasm and team spirit exhibited by the Zandolis. One senior Trinidadian official felt that this team had less individual talent than previous St. Lucian sides, but he went on to add that "they play harder and they seem to enjoy the game." One St. Lucian manager asserted that the Zandolis learned as much from their losses as they did from their single win. A player retorted that he hoped the managers had learned as well. That much is left to be seen.
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POW Ewan Auguste: Taking No Prisoners
(25 January 2000) - He's been explosive at times this season, but perhaps former St. Mary's College basketball forward Ewan Auguste stands out all the more because he's not really standing out all that much. See, every night is just like the one before. Lead the team in scoring, rebounding, field goal percentage, minutes, field goal attempts...every night. Consistency is not its own reward, and last week Ewan was named the Player of the Week in the MIAA Conference.
During the week, the 6'8" forward from St. Lucia led the Washburn University Ichabods basketball team to consecutive road wins, averaging 23.5 points, eight rebounds and 1.5 steals in the victories. A 25-point scoring output Saturday against Missouri Western State College matched Ewan's career high, and in the two games the junior centre converted twenty-one of thirty-nine attempts from the field, adding another five of seven from the charity stripe.
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Plenty of Promesse for Sydney
(25 January 2000) - Ronald Promesse - national record holder over 100m and almost indubitably "the fastest St. Lucian ever" - is keeping his focus squarely on the Olympic Games in Sydney next September. Ron's qualified for the Olympic 100m dash in the B Class, but he's hoping this year to replicate or improve on his career-best time of 10.21s to move up with the big boys. "Right now I am very confident and very healthy and I do look forward to a great season," Ron says.
The 24-year old kicked off his Olympic year with a silver medal at the Red Raider Indoor Track Invitational Meet. Running at the Texas Tech University in Lubbock, TX Ron completed the 55m dash in 6.30s, proclaiming that "for this time of year I am running pretty good." The Vieux Fort native, a senior at the University of Texas El Paso, says he'll limit his indoor appearances this year. He's gearing up for a long campaign, and he's hoping it culminates on the rubber in Australia.
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