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Peterkin New Sub-Region Sports Boss
(5 February 2001) - For the first time, a St. Lucian will take over the Sports Desk at the Castries-based Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States. David Peterkin, president of St. Lucia's Swimming Association, took up his new position from 1 February. He replaces Vincentian Michael Ollivierre, who had served two years as Sports Coordinator. Ollivierre returned to Jamaica last weekend, where he will resume his successful track and field coaching career. His most accomplished athletes include Jamaican hurdler Brigitte Foster and Vincentian distance runner Pamenos Ballantyne, both Olympians. Wednesday this week the OECS Secretariat will present Peterkin to the media at a 10 am ceremony, to be hosted at the Secretariat headquarters on Morne Fortune in Castries. At that ceremony, Peterkin will outline his vision for what the Secretariat has described as "this critical aspect of the regional integration movement." Peterkin has done fantastic work with swimming in St. Lucia and the OECS, helping develop the OECS Swim Championships to the point that several sub-regional athletes were in the Sydney Olympics.
Last year, for the first time, St. Lucia beat Grenada at the OECS Championships, held for the second time at the Rodney Heights Aquatic Centre in Gros Islet. The privately owned purpose-built swimming facility was built in 2000 with support from the Swimming Association. Later this year, the owners are hoping to make major improvements at Rodney Heights, again assisted by the Association. All of this was accomplished under Peterkin's direction.
David's brother, Richard - an accountant - was recently re-installed as head of St. Lucia's Olympic Committee.
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Dom Johnson Wins Again
(5 February 2001) - Dominic Johnson, St. Lucia's defending Central American and Caribbean men's pole vault champion, won his event easily last weekend at the Northern Arizona Invitational. He jumped 5.35m (17'6") for victory, a full foot better than the second placed vaulter. Dominic recently won the men's open division at the North American Pole Vault Summit.
Late this month, St. Lucia's 1999 Sportsman of the Year 1999 and repeat track and field athlete of the year will travel to Formia, Italy. There he' ll train 'til 2003 under the guidance of one of the world's best vault coaches.
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Debeauville Takes Over Busters
(31 January 2001) - The St. Lucia Road Busters Club has engaged Mr. Anthony Debeauville as head coach, effective 17 January. Debeauville is a founding member of Road Busters, the island's premier distance running club. He is also a former executive member of St. Lucia's Amateur Athletics Association. In terms of coaching, Debeauville has been certified by the International Amateur Athletics Federation. He coached St. Lucia's team to the Central American and Caribbean cross-country championships on three occasions. In 1999 (Costa Rica) St. Lucia was third, behind Mexico and Jamaica.
One of the young men on those CAC teams, Wayne "Ali" St. Ange, says that he' s happy Debeauville is taking over. "I think he'll make a difference. We need more guys like that to get involved. If that happens we'll see better performances from our young athletes especially."
Debeauville recently told reporters that he has two main goals. The first, he says, is to retake the Mon Repos Road Relay, which will be held later this month. Last year, a club from Martinique won the event. Debeauville also says he's hoping to qualify a St. Lucian athlete for the Summer Olympics in middle or long distances. Though the club will maintain its focus on distance running, Road Busters will also move into sprints and field events.
In other local track club news, Morne Stars have lost the services of head coach Michael Ollivierre, who was not retained as OECS Sports Coordinator. Former Legends head coach Martin Spencer takes over the reins of Morne Stars. Spencer, a real estate developer, coached Olympic sprinter Ronald Promesse during his formative years.
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Dane Makes IAAF Top 25
(4 February 2001) - In 2000, there were two St. Lucians listed by the International Amateur Athletics Federation as among the best in their respective disciplines. Ronald Promesse made the top 100 in the men's 100m and 200m sprints, and Dominic Johnson was in the pole vault top 50. This year, with Promesse yet to begin competing indoors, and Johnson off to a lukewarm start, there's another Lucian listed by IAAF: Dane Magloire.
Last year, the 25-year-old from Dennery captured the NCAA Division II outdoor long jump championship, competing for St. Augustine's College in North Carolina. This year he's the best jumper in DII indoor competition. He's also listed in the IAAF top 25 for both long jump and triple jump.
Actually, Dane (or 'Dwayne,' as the IAAF lists him) comes in at number 25 on both lists, but there may be plenty more to come. After his first real off-season as a collegian, Dane opened the 2001 indoor season with decent marks, before busting out in a duel with Division I freshman phenom Allen Simms. The two athletes came together in late January, at the Kroger Indoor Invitational, hosted by Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, VA. There, Dane cleared a career-best 16.21m (53'2.5") for the triple jump, second only to Simms. Last year, Dane had a career-best 7.8m (25'8") long jump; at Blacksburg he made 7.70m (25'3.25") to finish fourth and top the NCAA provisional list. They might not be getting his name right just now, but if he continues at this rate, DANE Magloire may be a household name.
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Dynamic Tennis Duos
(7 February 2001) - The second round of the Heineken Veteans Dynamic Duo Doubles Tennis Tournament was played Tuesday evening, with twelve 'old' men on court. The week-long tournament for players 35-years-old and over drew quite a response, and the tennis hasn't been bad either.
Tuesday night, Tony Roheman volleyed away, behind the accurate and hearty hitting of Terry Charles. They combined to beat Denis Mauricette and Buzz Erlinger-Ford 6-2 6-4. The brothers Hunte, Errol and Trevor, raced to a 6-0 6-1 win over Roger Sutherland and Keith Noel. Ian Louis served big, and Martin Satney hustled all evening, as they came away with a victory over Girard Glace and David Sweetnam 6-3 6-1. The tourney ends Saturday.
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No Guyana For Lucian Ballers
(5 February 2001) - The schedule for the qualifying rounds of this year's Copa Caribe - the Caribbean Football Union regional competition - was announced in January. Ranked 137th by world governing body Fifa, St. Lucia was drawn in a group that ought to have been a cakewalk.
Guyana (183, though they were banned by Fifa last year, and are a little better than their ranking) Dominica (152) and either Anguilla (196) or Montserrat (202) would have been St. Lucia's opponents in Georgetown, Guyana. They were in a group that should have been easy to win.
CFU pulled a switch, making St. Lucia's road to the finals in May a wee bit harder. The group will be hosted by Haiti (84) in April. Guadeloupe is unranked, as the island is a French overseas department. They can't be underestimated, though. They play a style St. Lucia finds tough to defend.
The United States Virgin Islands (198) are the group minnows. So, head coach Felix St. Rose, captain Earl Jean and their men have some heavy lifting to do. Still, you might recall that Surinam (164) beat St. Lucia last year in the first round of World Cup qualifying. It showed that St. Lucian football has some problems to deal with, and it showed that you should always beware the underdog. In preparation for the Copa Caribe campaign, St. Lucia will play a series of friendlies including an Independence Day match against Martinique. The St. Lucians will also go into Haiti fresh from the Windward Islands tournament in Grenada.
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Good News, Bad News From Football
(7 February 2001) - Two teams have been eliminated from the quarterfinals of the Cable & Wireless under-twenty football tournament. Mabouya Valley was very successful in 2000, winning at nearly every level. They can only hope they'll have titles to defend this year, as they were discovered by the Football Association to be using overage and unregistered players in the U20 tournament. Canaries was also a culprit, according to the FA.
According to a release from the Association, they will "monitor closely these teams in the future." On the other hand, outstanding female footballers will be recognized at a special ceremony this weekend at the Islander Hotel. Last year, the national team placed second to Haiti at the inaugural Caribbean Women's Football Championships. Captain and midfielder Lisa Vidal was named female footballer of the year, an award she'll officially receive Sunday evening. She's also in the running for the Sportswoman of the Year title.
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