IN the small section of the Editorial Department of THE VOICE which he occupies, Anthony De Beauville operates amid his own personal Hall of Fame.
He has long run out of space to erect the various awards he has amassed over a short period of eight years, working as the newspaper’s Sports Journalist. In fact, several of these awards he has misplaced and hardly misses, because he cannot even remember them all.
Anthony De Beauville came to THE VOICE in 2006 after amassing a colourful career as sportsman, coach and administrator. Consider this: how many sports personalities in these parts can boast of having competed in 38 marathons?
De Beauville makes light of this achievement and with good reason, because it represents the very tip of the iceberg, as we say. As a long distance runner, he also competed over 5ks, 10ks and half marathons.
He recalled: “I started as a10k runner and took part in the first ever event in St Lucia 1985 sponsored by Xerox. (Sports Minister) Desmond Brathwaite was pleased with my performance and sent me to Barbados to take part in the finals. I placed ninth. From there I took part in many long distances races and did pretty well in most of them.
“Then I took on the marathon. To date I have run 38 full marathons and a number of 10ks, 5ks and half marathons. I’ve lost track of the numbers.”
Then De Beauville became a qualified Level 2 coach with the International Athletics Federation) in 1996, later a qualified volleyball coach and cycling coach as well. “I have coached a number of major sporting personalities in St. Lucia, with much success”
As a sportsman, administrator and coach De Beauville adopted a no nonsense approach that he has carried over into the journalistic realm. Sometimes controversial, he is never afraid to voice his views and opinions, whether in support or in condemnation, even though his may be the only voice on one side.
He said: “I take sports seriously, so I cannot stand to see indiscipline or slackness of any kind. All sports are now extremely competitive and if one hopes to compete on the world stage there simply isn’t any room for shoddy behaviour. That’s my position and it is one that I have taken to my work as a sports journalist. Don’t expect support from me if you are messing around and throwing away your opportunities because you lack the discipline or want to get where you are going through a short cut.”
His courtship with sports journalism started around the time he served as public relations officer for the St Lucia Athletics Association, which allowed him to produce a number of profiles of local sports people for THE VOICE. He was in St Vincent in 2006 when the then Editor of the paper, Victor Marquis, called him and enticed him into coming across.
“The rest is history, as they say”, De Beauville recalled. On his return home, he began work with THE VOICE.
In the last eight years, De Beauville has reaped countless awards for his coverage of sports. In fact, five times during that period he has been voted “Sports Journalist” of the year” and honoured at the National Sports Awards ceremony, a feat that remains unmatched.
It was his enthusiasm for his work that resulted in 2013 in him being chosen by the St Lucia Government and the British High Commission to attend the London legacy tour, the only journalist from the Caribbean.
But it is his extensive coverage of sports that remains the hallmark of De Beauville’s journalistic career. Whatever weakness he may possess is overshadowed by the sheer volume of work –news stories and photographs–that he produces on a daily basis and the fact that he is prepared to go whether it is to get cover events.
He said: “When it comes to sports, even if it’s a crab race, once I know where it is I will go out to get the story. There are a number of places, especially in what are referred to as the ‘out districts’ where our sports journalists will not go to cover events .I get a lot of satisfaction from spotlighting athletes in any sport who would never receive national attention, especially the youngsters many of whom are seeing their photographs and their feats in a newspaper for the very first time. I get a lot of pleasure out of being able to do this kind of thing”.
Also, because of De Beauville’s work, THE VOICE is highly regarded for its extensive sports coverage.
(By Guy Ellis)