THE Department of Youth Development and Sports on Wednesday morning announced the hiring of seven new coaches to its cadre of fifteen.
The seven coaches were chosen from among a number of sporting disciplines and current national sportspersons. In their selection of these individuals, the department also took into consideration the level of volunteerism initiated by these individuals.
“Our intentions at the Department are for our programmes to contribute the holistic development of young people but also further ensure we play our role in problem-solving to provide the solution that will lead to the reduction in young people engaging in crime and violence,” Youth Director, Mary Wilfred, said.
“The department is convinced that we can continue to produce world-class athletes to carry the flag of the nation and to take sports as an economic engine for our small society. We place our emphasis on coaches in schools and communities that can scout early talent and develop young people and in the process make decisions so these young people get the best in what they have been already gifted,” she added.
She said the hope is to gradually increase the Department’s coaching compliment since the Department “was not satisfied that we have enough to cover the entire island.”
The new coaches are as follows:
• Ron Dumurville, who has been instrumental in establishing his own basketball academy for young people within the Castries Basin, will now be expected to leap to new heights and develop the sport on a bigger scale.
• Alban Estephane has been a champion of basketball development for a number of years and will now be responsible for furthering this cause in the Dennery Basin.
• National long distance runner Michael Biscette of Road Busters Club will work with Coach Cuthbert Modeste to improve performances in the middle and long distances.
• Junior Derose, who has been working in the southern community, has been given the mandate of further developing cricket in the Micoud and Choiseul areas. He now joins the department’s highly-flambouyant team of former national players Alton Crafton and John Eugene as they seek to further improve Saint Lucia’s performance at all levels of the game.
• Conrad Fredericks is tasked with added resources to nurture even more boxing talent in the schools and communities. The current national boxing coach has already captured the OECS and Creole Boxing titles for Saint Lucia earlier this year. With the much-added support, Fredericks will be expected to aid in putting on a decent performance at the Caribbean Boxing championships scheduled here in December.
• Shernelle Francis will be responsible for the development of netball in the Anse la Raye and Canaries communities. She has been known for her exploits in coaching Under-17 boys’ football and will be expected to use her expertise and already-established connections to develop netball on the west coast of the island.
• Former national striker David Henry, also from the west coast, will use his involvement in youth work to further develop the sport of football in the community.
School sports coordinator, Isabell Marquis said there has been a call for the presence of the coaches in the schools in an effort to raise the standard of core of sporting disciplines such as basketball and netball. The decorum and the deportment of students on the field of play means a lot of work has to be done, Marquis said.
“We expect these coaches to work very closely with the schools, in particular, in the grassroots and primary schools’ programmes, teaching the students the basics of the various sporting disciplines that would eventually feed into our schools sports programme. If all goes as planned, we expect to do much better in the various sporting disciplines at the school level in the coming years,” Marquis explained.
Coaching coordinator in the Department of Youth Development and Sports, Dane Magloire, said, “Youth and sports development on the island has received what the doctor ordered, an additional injection of coaching talent and expertise, which is required to take sports within the school system to a higher level on the island.”
The other coaches already attached to the Department include Denis St. Claire and Anton Richard Anfernee Ferdinand (volleyball); Shem Maxwell and Verne Maxwell (netball); Germain Thomas (basketball); Felix Stapleton (football); Chris Wells (table tennis); Ming Wei Lien (table tennis — Taiwan); Albert Reynolds, Cuthbert Modeste and MakebaAlcide (athletics); Alton Crafton and John Eugene (cricket) and Miguel Leal Diaz (cycling — Cuba).
