[MICHAEL]

OECS Sports chief promises more action this year!

by Michael Bascombe

ST. GEORGE'S Feb 19 - The St Lucia-based Sports Desk of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Secretariat is hoping to revive a number of sporting events on sub-regional level.

 The OECS Sports Co-ordinator David Peterkin said that Table Tennis, Boxing and Tennis will be returning to the sporting calendar this year.

 Peterkin, who was in Grenada last week, meeting with the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Sport, Veda Bruno-Victor and representatives of some sporting associations, has embarked on a needs assessment initiative throughout the islands.

 He has already visited St Vincent and the Grenadines and plans to visit Dominica and the other islands in the coming weeks.

 “The desk is doing needs assessment in the member states so we would be able to work cohesively,” Peterkin told GrenadaSports.

 He said that a number of sporting events are on the schedule for Grenada this year. Listed on the calendar among activities the OECS Sports Desk will be assisting or co-ordinating include the Whitsuntide Games, OECS Under-23 Netball Tournament, Windward Islands Secondary Schools’ Games, OECS Table Tennis Championship, OECS Half Marathon, OECS Swimming Championship and the OECS Boxing Tournament.

 The OECS Sports Chief explained that he met with representatives of the Table Tennis Association with the hope of assessing their needs for staging of the championship.

 He said that plans are also in the making for the reviving of the OECS Tennis Tournament.

 “We have managed to get the tennis federations of the OECS to come together and we are starting it off in St Lucia, and the format will be very simple to start with, there is going to be men’s, ladies’ and mixed doubles and that’s it for the first time,” he Peterkin said.

 “My hope is that the Presidents of the Tennis Federations in the OECS will meet in St Lucia at that time to further discuss direction they will like to see. But certainly the OECS Tennis Championship will start back again this year”.

Peterkin, who has successfully coached a number of top St Lucian swimmers, has welcomed the attempts by OECS Governments to improve the sporting facilities in their respective countries.

 He noted the moves made by Grenada and St Lucia and other initiatives being undertaken by the other islands.

 However, he is concerned about accessibility to the major facilities on the islands.

 “One of the things I would like to see happen is easier access to facilities by the sporting fraternity. It’s all well and good to have facilities in the hope you could develop top athletes but if it’s difficult to have access to these facilities then it’s difficult to be able to get a broad-based of athletes to use the facilities which are very similar to facilities they would find when they go abroad for competitions,” he said.

Calendar of OECS Events as follows:

March 10-14 - Tennis/St. Lucia

April 9-10 - Golf/St. Lucia

April 23-25 - Squash Jnr Invitational/St. Vincent

May 7-10 - Bridge/Anguilla

May 9 - ITU Triathalon/St. Kitts

May 28-June 1 - Netball Champion Clubs/St. Vincent

May 27-31 - Squash Snr IND & Team/BVI

May 29-30 - Whitsuntide Games/Grenada

June 5-6 - OECS Relays/BVI

June 16-21 - Basketball/Antigua

June 20 - OECS 10K (Birthday)/St. Kitts

July 3-8 - Netball Under 23/Grenada

July 24-31 - WINS Islands School Games/Grenada

Aug 26-29 - Volleyball Female/Anguilla

Oct 22-24 - Table Tennis/Grenada

Oct 31 - OECS Half Marathon/Grenada

Nov 5-7 - Swimming Championships/Grenada or St. Lucia

Nov 12-13 - Boxing/Grenada

Nov TBA - Volleyball Male/TBA

OECS Sports Personality Awards December 2004.

Sponsors include:

Eastern Caribbean Central Bank - Under 23 Netball Tournament, Eastern Caribbean Group of Companies - Champions Netball Tournament, Sagicor - Swimming, Nemwil - OECS Half Marathon, United Insurance - Secondary Schools Cricket.