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Rugby Football: At The Crossroads
( 17 November) - The game of rugby football stands at the crossroads in St. Lucia. The majority display an astounding level of ignorance concerning the relatively young sport, and those few who understand rugby too often lack the zeal to spread the game beyond its existing narrow confines. The leadership of the domestic body is equally lacking in fresh ideas to move rugby forward.
After an absence of some fifteen years, rugby was re-introduced to St. Lucia in 1992, when the Hawks Rugby Football Club was founded. Five years after its inception, the club was rated one of the Caribbean's best seven-a-side teams, doing well in both Trinidad and Martinique. The Ministry of Sport recognised the Rugby Association as the Most Improved Association of the Year.
From that heady zenith, when five domestic clubs entered the St. Lucia Seven-a-Side Open Tournament, things went downhill. The St. Lucia Rugby Football Union was formed to replace the Rugby Association and a real national team, the Zandolis, emerged for the first time. Sadly, the rise of the Zandolis coincided with the dissolution of clubs like Lynx, Valley Vultures and, yes, Hawks.
Thanks in part to a dearth of coaches and administrators, the national team became a glorified club side, training endlessly, with hopes of a game pinned almost exclusively on the whims and fancies of passing naval vessels. Predictably enough, interest in the game began to decline - no mean feat given that so few people had been playing rugby in St. Lucia to start with.
In the past two years, the St. Lucia Seven-a-Side Tournament became a Ten-a-Side contest; less teams came from overseas, and only the Zandolis were on hand to represent St. Lucia. Last year St. Vincent entered the tournament for the first time and won it. This year the same happened with the Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force. The Zandolis got to the lacklustre final each time.
As for other competition, the national team has had fewer than four encounters for 1999, and once-habitual tours to Martinique and Guadeloupe have gone the way of the dodo. Still, some of the players who helped start it all in 1992 will travel to Trinidad in December, trying again for the Caribbean Sevens. St. Lucia's reputation has declined badly, and our neighbours have passed us.
Recent infusions of talent notwithstanding, St. Lucian rugby has lost its way, and the game needs to be placed on the right track...quickly. The needs are legion, but suffice it to say that funding, administration, coaching, officiating and the development of a higher skill level and an appreciation for the game among the general public will come only if the game is played regularly.
The authorities have spoken for too long about a national rugby football league - it is past time that the vision begins to crystallize. The numbers may not be there, not at the beginning. If the old campaigners and the eager newcomers can see that something, anything is being done to promote our beloved game, they will come back, and rugby will go from strength to strength.
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Wounded Olympian Comes Home Proud
 (16 November) - St. Lucian Olympian and triple track and field record holder Dominic Johnson is expected in St. Lucia early Thursday morning. Johnson, whose arm is just out of a sling following recent arthroscopic surgery on his shoulder, will stage a Friday press conference at Olympic house on Barnard Hill. It will be Dominic's first visit to St. Lucia in some twelve months.
The 24-year old, one of the nation's outstanding contemporary athletes, has enjoyed a very successful year. Last June in Barbados, he became the first St. Lucian man ever to claim a gold medal at the Central American and Caribbean Games, establishing a new meet record in the pole vault and taking honours for the Most Outstanding Male Athlete, despite not having jumped his best.
Later in the year, Dominic would go on to represent St. Lucia at the Pan American Games in Winnipeg, Canada, where he suffered the ill fate of failing to clear a height. Some weeks later he redeemed himself by finishing among the top twenty vaulters at the World Track and Field Championships in Seville, Spain.
Aside from his individual success - Dominic also holds the national record in the decathlon - the Tucson, Arizona-based youngster has also been a member of the last five teams to break the 4x100m men's national record. He did it at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996, and he wants to do it again at Sydney 2000.
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Joseph Adds Another to the Trophy Cabinet
 (November 15) - Zepherinus Joseph has done Mon Repos and St. Lucia proud once again, coming second at his national championships in America. The slight 24-year old is in his sophomore year at Central Arizona College; last year he set school records at four distances, going on to represent St. Lucia at the Central American and Caribbean Track and Field Championships last June in Barbados. When he left for Central Arizona he was the defending national champion at 1500m and 5000m, distances at which he also holds the national records.
For all that, Zepherinus - who recently became a father - says his biggest athletic moment may have come at home in January, when he placed fifth in the CAC Cross Country Championships, the best individual finish ever for a St. Lucian. Now Zepherinus may be aiming for cross-country gold when Colombia stages the event next February. Last month, he won the regional college cross-country championships and came second in his conference, clocking a little over 25 minutes each time.
He says that he patterns himself after the great distance runners of Ethiopia and Kenya, and that may extend to their tendency to shine in the big races. Running a brilliant race, Zepherinus completed the national college cross-country championship in 24:21 last Friday, good for the silver and a new school record. Having missed the gold by just four seconds, this was what he had to say: "It was really great, but I don't like second place; this just motivates me to win in Colombia."
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Groundwork Being Laid For OECS Millennium Track Meet
(15 November) - The Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) could stage a sub-regional track and field meet by the summer of next year. That's the word from OECS Sports Coordinator Michael Ollivierre, a qualified track coach in his own right. If they're held in 2000 the OECS Track and Field Championships could come off in late June or early July, providing an Olympic tuneup for some of the sub-region's athletes.
Ollivierre recently mooted the notion of an OECS meet during discussions with Amadeo Francis, Puerto Rico-based vice president ot the International Amateur Athletics Federation. Ollivierre syas that the IAAF deputy was "quite receptive" and "willing to support the project in whatever way he can." Ollivierre intends to approach the track and field authorities in all nine OECS territories with a view to putting the details of the meet in place.
"It's not necessarily going to be easy,"says Ollivierre, "but I think we need to provide that sort of opportunity for our OECS athletes." Such an opportunity does not currently exist in the sport of track and field. Grenada tends to draw a few athletes from the sub-region for the Whitsuntide Games. That territory may well be the most likely venue if the OECS meet is held next year. Grenada will also be hosting the 2000 CARIFTA Games.
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Auguste is Outstanding in Washburn Win
(15 November) - Former St. Mary's College basketball standout Ewan Auguste led the way for his Washburn Univeristy Ichabods in their exhibition opener against Mortgage Plus of Topeka Kansas recently. Standing 6'8" and weighing in at 220 lbs, the junior centre played just seventeen minutes in the Ichabods' 123-93 demolition of Mortgage Plus, but he made his presence felt.
The 23-year old had only thirteen attempts from the field, eleven of which he converted to lead all scorers with 23 points. With only two foul shots in the game, he made one of two. In addition to scoring more than a point per minute, Auguste added nine rebounds to his tally, falling just shy of a double double. The youngster is "looking to have another great year," as he continues to recover from a minor knee injury.
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Paralympic cyclist begins ride from Vieux Fort
(November 14th) - Disabled Barbadian cyclist Daniel Coulthurst started the St. Lucian segment of his 'Ride across the Caribbean' from the southern town of Vieux Fort. A sizeable crowd turned out early on Sunday morning to show support for the plucky 26-year-old Bajan who has covered over 400km since his ride began in Curacao on 16th October 1999. Accompanied by members of various cycling clubs and others who just turned up to 'have a go', Sunday's ride took Daniel through Augier, La Ressource, Desruisseaux, Micoud, Mon Repos, Dennery, Bexon, The Morne, Ti Rocher, Babboneau, Balata, Union, Gros Islet, Marisule, Corinth, Grand Riviere, Bisee and La Clery, finally ending with celebrations on the Wm. Peter Boulevard.
Despite having been born without legs below the knee, Daniel has become the first Caribbean cyclist to gain a place at the Paralympic Games to be held next year in Sydney, Australia. Daniel needs to raise US$80,000 to adequately prepare for the games and to this end a fund-raising drive has been started [See appeals page]. Donations can be made to Account No. 501999463 at the National Commercial Bank in the name of Ride Across the Caribbean.
Daniel has so far completed rides across Aruba, Trinidad, and Grenada, bringing home his mission to focus attention on the role of physically-challenged persons in the Caribbean to thousands of spectators. The dates for his two remaining rides across Antigua and his native Barbados have yet to be announced. Find out more about Daniel at his website: www.ridecaribbean.com.bb
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OECS Men's Volleyball: Confirmed?
(3 November) - There's a regular battle taking place at the Vigie Multi-Purpose Sports Complex, but nobody is quite certain if there's any real point. Eighteen men get together every couple of evenings to play volleyball. They're vying for a spot on the St. Lucia national team which will contest the 1999 Organsiation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Men's Volleyball Championships. Two things, though: they're not sure when and where they'll be playing. Depending on when (and if) they play they may be missing some key players.
According to Brian Louisy, the President of the St. Lucia Amateur Volleyball Association, he communicated with Antiguan volleyball authorities earlier this week. The Antiguans were recently affected by the passage of Hurricane Jose, and Louisy told me that they've rescheduled the tournament, which will now be held 3-5 December. The championships were originally slated to be held in St. Kitts last September. Louisy says that official correspondence confirming the new dates for the tournament will be forthcoming as early as this week.
If the tournament is held on that first weekend in December, St. Lucia - yet to lose a match after thirteen years of OECS play - will have to field a weakened side. Jason Octave and Dane Williams, certain to make the final cut, would be forced to miss the trip to Antigua. Both are registered for that weekend's SAT exams. Lousiy says that he'll be asking the Antiguans for a further one-week postponement, so that St. Lucia will be able to field its strongest possible team. Meanwhile, training continues at the Complex under coach Patrick Brown.
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OECS Swimming Takes a Dive
 (9 November) - The Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Swimming Championships were to have been held in St. Lucia for the first time ever in November. At the beginning of 1999, St. Lucia's Amateur Swimming Association gave the assurance that everything would be in place for that event. Instead, thanks to delays in the construction of the Rodney Heights Aquatic Centre, it seems that there will be two OECS meets in 2000.
The Swimming Association told reporters this week that the meet, which had already been rescheduled to December, will not be taking place until January next year. A spokesperson for the Association gave as reason for the further postponement the fact that the contractors on the Rodney Heights facility are experiencing a number of previously unforeseen delays.
When the Aquatic Centre does come on stream, it is expected that a full slate of athletes from throughout the OECS will christen the facility and its Olympic-standard pool. Members of the public will have access to the facility, which will be entirely owned and operated by the Swimming Association. The Association is also looking forward to hosting several meets at the new venue.
St. Lucians are looking forward to seeing their sub-regional swim stars in action for the very first time. Sherrie Scobie-Henry (pictured, in pool) is at secondary school in Trinidad and Tobago, while fellow national- and OECS-record holder Jamie Peterkin is studying in Florida. The two both swam for St. Lucia at the Pan-American Games in Winnipeg, Canada earlier this year.
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Doing It Twice Is Twice As Nice
(8 November) - Double strikes from their leading goal-scorers (and the leading scorers in the competition) set the stage for Roots Alley Ballers' victory in the final of the Heineken/Football Association FA Cup Sunday evening at the Mindoo Philip Park. Their opponents, Young Stars of Anse la Raye, did well to get to the final. On the occasion, though, the class of the Southern Superstars made them double winners. In October they clinched the inaugural Premier League title despite playing part of the game without captain and influential striker Emerson "Ti Loy" Jn Marie, who led the FA Cup in scoring. On Sunday evening, having also missed the FA Cup semi-final, Jn Marie was back in tandem with Oswald Downes, the leading Premier League goal-scorer, with fourteen. Young Stars came out determined to make this a tough game for Roots Alley, but it took exactly twelve minutes for Oswald Downes to alter those tactics. Downes opened the scoring; seven minutes later he made a key pass to Sheldon Mark, who threaded the ball through to Jn Marie for a clinical finish. Tim George netted the third of the half for Roots Alley. Three goals down, the Anse la Raye side might have been expected to capitulate, but nobody bothered to tell them so. Their central defensive unit fought tooth and nail to prevent the advantage from growing, and but for the futility of the Young Star frontline, a game might have been on. In the sixty-first minute, Mark made his second crucial assist, touching the ball to Downes, who headed home to made the rest of the game of academic interest. Jn Marie scored his sixteenth Cup goal in the eightieth minute. This team's achievements are laudable. They played without former leading marksman Titus Elva, now with W Connection in Trinidad's PFL. Whilst their enigmatic leader did his thing with the other Southern Giants, Roots Alley Ballers came of age. Having made it close to the top two years ago, their fortunes fell dramatically last year, when the FA handed the club a ban for indiscipline. Coach Philip Philip says the ban was unjustified, but television cameras usually tell the truth. With Jn Marie perhaps seeking greener pastures in Europe, the pressure is already on the Ballers to repeat the double.
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