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From left to right Minister of Sports, Lenard Montoute; President of the St Lucia Tennis Association, Stephen McNamara and Ambassador of the Republic of China (Taiwan), Tom Chou during the official sod turning ceremony.
For now anyway its game and set. However, in July when the Coca-Cola ITF Junior International Tennis Tournament serves off it will be game set and match at the new state of the art National Tennis Centre.
That’s right folks, after years of frustration and broken promises by the St Lucia Labour Party and the United Workers Party while in office, a sod turning on Wednesday at Beausejour is a good indication that what was once considered the impossible dream, will finally become a reality.
The plans call for a six tennis courts and administrative building with changing facilities for players, at a cost of just over EC$4 million. The project is being financed the Embassy of the Republic of China (Taiwan). The completion date is the end of July—just in time to host Coca-Cola which is one of the biggest junior tennis tournaments in the region.
The sod turning was truly a momentous occasion for everyone involved with the sport of tennis directly and indirectly. On hand were government ministers, staff of the Embassy of Taiwan, officials with the Department of Youth and Sports and representatives including players old and young with the St Lucia Tennis Association (SLTA).
When pursuing anything it is helpful to have a very influential individual in your corner to provide assistance along the way. In the case of the SLTA, their ace is Ambassador Tom Chou, of the Embassy of the Republic of China (Taiwan).
The Ambassador who is a big fan and player, wasted little time checking out the tennis scene upon his arrival here in July 2007. In fact, he told the gathering “the first thing I did before assuming my duty as Ambassador, my first mission was finding out where I could play tennis.”
He ended up playing at the St Lucia Racquet Club at Almond Smugglers Cove.
A three dimensional aerial perspective of the proposed National Tennis Centre being constructed at Beausejour.
Ambassador Chou could hardly contain his enthusiasm for the new National Tennis Centre during his brief remarks. He referred to the occasion as “very exciting and a historical moment for the sport of tennis in St Lucia.”
It was certainly a relief for Minister of Sports, Lenard Montoute, to finally get this project off the ground after empty promises to the SLTA year after year. On this day though all was forgotten, Montoute did in fact compliment the SLTA and certain individuals for keeping up the pressure and maintaining interest in the project:
“Today we are here for the realization of what I consider to be a noble dream, the sod turning ceremony for the establishment of a National Tennis Centre. This facility I hope will herald a new beginning in the sport of tennis in that it will make the sport more accessible to the average St Lucian and tennis becomes more of a grass roots sport here.”
The minister feels the Tennis Centre will fulfill a wider goal which is the establishment of a national sporting complex to compliment the Beausejour Cricket Ground, the Indoor Practice Facility and the proposed National Swimming Complex.
It was only fitting that the SLTA which has hounded the two major political parties for a number of years for the construction of a National Tennis Centre got the last word.
President of the SLTA, Stephen McNamara said: “This is a very proud and potent moment for the St Lucia Tennis Association for tennis and by extension sport for general in St Lucia. It is a day to which we have long looked forward to and we are particularly pleased it has now arrived.”
McNamara pointed out that the SLTA understood the trials and tribulations that went on to get this stage and hopes now that everyone is on board and “we can move forward swiftly to bring this Tennis Centre to a reality.”
The SLTA president feels the facility is the key that will unlock the future of tennis in St Lucia and take us to greater heights. In fact, McNamara is of the opinion that the first St Lucian player who will play in a Grand Slam in all likelihood will be trained on this very ground.”
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Great!!!, PLEASE DO NOT SET EXOBITANT FEES FOR THE USE OF THE FACILITIES AND CONSEQUENTLY KEEP OUT A NUMBER OF POOR KIDS WHO HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO BE ST LUCIA’S OWN SERENA WILLIAMS!!!
I know that maintenance may be costly but a few days can be set aside e.g Friday afternoons and Saturday mornings when kids within a certain age group would be allowed to use the facilities for free……great way to keep them off the streets ……
I would like to book court #5 for 4pm. This is great news.
Guess who will be playing on these courts when their are no tournaments? Who do you see playing on the few they have down there now ? I am sure it will not be folks from Grass Street or surrounding areas. They will only be behind the fence looking in . Right now who goes to to the Aquatic Center to Swim ? Not the getto kids; you don’t see them there , (that’s if they even know such a place exist) they go by the river or the beach to sharpen their skills. Even if their parents have spare change you don’t see them there. You never read of anything been provided for the Inner City kids, like a new library , a youth center . Why the goverment don’t ask Taiwan to build a trade school or the the first ever St. Lucia School of Agriculture ? Everyday they get up bawling about crime . Geee I wonder why ?
Junior Stewart makes some good points, albeit in a convoluted and somewhat presumptive way. There are many “ordinary “Saint Lucians who would love to play tennis or take up swimming who can’t afford the fees charged at privately-owned facilities such as the Aquatic Centre and the hotels. Stewart’s presumes ordinary Saint Lucians living on Grass Street will not be allowed to use the new Tennis Centre which will be a public facility. I hope he will be proven wrong on that score.
One can’t argue against his more straightfoward point about priorities. Personally, I would place a higher priority to the things he mentioned over the Tennis Centre. Indeed, I would give priority to an Indoor Games Building (like we used to have at the Parish Centre) over a Tennis Centre. Still, let’s hope the Tennis Centre is accessible to all Saint Lucians who wish to use it and that it helps to produce our own Federer or Nadal.
GO TAIWAN!!! BOY YOU HAVE TO ADMIT THAT THE TAIWANESE ARE REALLY DOING A MARVELOUS JOB OF IDENTIFYING PROJECTS WHICH PEOPLE CAN ACTUALLY USE AND WHICH ARE BUILT USING ST. LUCIAN LABOUR RATHER THAN “ASIAN’ LABOUR, WITHOUT BRINGING IN TAIWANESE RESTAURANTS, AND STORES AS A CONDITION!!! WITH THE TAIWANESE, THE RC SCHOOL DOES NOT HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT SENDING ITS TEACHES TO LEARN MANDERENE OR ABOUT TEACHING ABOUT HEILONGJIANG, JILIN OR JIANGXI PROVINCES!!! YAY!!! GO TAIWANE (THIS WAS NOT A POLITICAL AD, JUST A CITIZEN WHO THINKS THAT WE NEED, I MEAN REALLY NEED MORE TENNIS COURTS IN ST. LUCIA!!!)
As much as I’d like to commend the efforts of this initiative, am left to echo the sentiments of Junior Stewart. Loud and clear.
It appears that Castries and in particular Central Castries have been and continues to be underdeveloped so that the North can be developed.
But at what cost? And to what ends?
The capital city of St Lucia screams “NEGLECT!!!” day and night without a single member of what sadly passing for government even batting an eye lid much less displaying any regard for the city population.
So preoccupied are they with their egos that swimming in incompetence is even a challenge for them in shallow waters.
That the men, women and children of the City and its surrounding areas continue to be neglected by every administration over the past 20 plus years is a travesty in of itself. None of the basic infrastructure which made City living enjoyable has endured.
Take a stroll through the Gardens. I dare you!!! There sits near the circle a valuable piece of Caribbean Architecture which has over the years been left to slowly deteriorate when with very little it could have been rehabilitated and made functional again.
It is time for reforming and purging the Castries City Council of the career vipers whose only ambitions are to use their positions to fatten themselves while pretending to serve the constituents which they ought to.
Whatever so called development the City has experienced really has not resolved any of the basic issues which a growing City demands and deserved.
Those initiatives at best and for the most part have been sorely lacking in vision and foresight.
The physical monstrosities which pass for infrastructural development have actually exacerbated the advancement and quality of life for the average citizen.
Funds that otherwise could have been surgically applied to the uplift have actually been diverted to other causes having less of a direct impact on the People…And you wonder why the shooting, and the killing and the lawlessness and the basic downward spiral of values and decency.
Your actions, you so-called sod turning politicians send a clear and unambiguous message. We Don’t Care A Dame About You!!!! Marchard, Leslie Land, Grass St, CDC, Georgeville, La Panse, New Village, Mone Didou, Graveyard, Blackmallet, Water Works, Cedars, Paterson Gap and the rest of your other siblings birthed by the same Mother. Castries is really a castaway…
So is the foundation being set so that Gros Islet – our Tourist Mecca – will soon assume the distinction of being the new capital of St Lucia? It appears so…
Again go ahead with your sod turning ceremonies. Continue the developmental trajectory away from the rude gutters of Castries which ferments and emits the stench of reality of the common man and the structural eye sores which shames you with its naked neglected self. Go long ….go long ….go long….But Go!!!!
Get out of the business of Governing and providing for the few at the expense of the many.
As country of modeste resourses (the greatest of which are its people) when our so called leaders go out on the world stage to beg it would make sense if they were begging for the right stuff. Like a Modern Central Library. Or the upkeep and rehabilitation of existing recreational out lets for those who still chose to make Castries their home.
Remember that the stone that the builders refuse shall be the head corner stone…
@ TOOT TOOT BOUCHE
I think your contribution is xenophobic in many ways.
I personally would love to learn about China, about Jiangxi and Guangdong Provinces, about the amazing history of the Chinese people, whether they live on the mainland or on Taiwan (Formosa). If Mandarin is the most populous language on earth, then it would be great for more of our citizenry to learn it and even offered in some schools where possible! Wake up and smell the soy sauce, China is the Giant Panda in the room. America knows it, the rest of the world know it.
Generally I think the comments made have been on target. We do need sport and recreation opportunities for all. We definitely need a Tennis Centre. I personally can’t wait for us to have a purpose built pitch for rugby. We all have our penchants but we also need to build on where we should have natural strengths. We have wonderful scenery, mountains and countryside yet no bike paths and few walking/running trails. We have more ocean than land and yet no boating clubs and swimming programmes in all the villages. What we really can do without is the destruction of our minute acreages of arable land for 10 golf courses, on an island of 616 sq. km. So not all sports are created equal, especially on a small, increasingly crowded island. I guess a page out of a crowded place like China? Table Tennis?
DO ST.LUCIANS NO LONGER HAVE A SENSE OF HUMOR? DID YOU REALLY READ WHAT I WROTE?…..GO BACK READ IT(IM WAITING) …… GOOD NOW…..LAUGH!!! LAUGH LOUD!!! NOW I SEE WHY WE ARE SLAUGHTERING EACH OTHER…WE HAVE NO SENSE OF HUMOR!!! THE WORD IS STILL OUT ON WHETHER CHINA IS THE BIG PANDA. CHINA’S PROSPERITY IS BASED SOLELY ON THE FACT THAT IT HAS AN ARTIFICIAL VALUE TO ITS CURRENCY! THIS UNDERVALUATION, IS NOW BEING SCRUTINIZED AS IT IS CAUSING A HEADACHE TO THE EUROPEANS AND TO THE AMERICANS. GO READ UP ON THE WHAT HAPPENED TO THE LAST COUNTRY WHICH LOWERED ITS CURRENCY TO BOOST EXPORTS….. THE AMERICANS WILL STAND CHINA BREAKING INTERNATIONAL CURRENCY RULES AS LONG AS IT DOES NOT POSE A DIRECT PROBLEM….IN THE LONG RUN CHINA WILL INEVITABLY HAVE TO RAISE THE VALUE OF ITS CURRENCY, LEADING TO A RISE IN THE PRICE OF EXPORTS AND THE COST OF DOING BUSINESS. LOWER EXPORTS, WILL MEAN AN ECONOMICALLY WEAKENED CHINA, MEANING LESS BARGAINING POWER IN DEPLOMATIC RELATIONS. THAT MEANS THAT WE MIGHT NOT HAVE TO LEARN MANDERIN AFTER ALL!!! (IM ONLY JOKING!!!)
@ TOUT TOO BOUCHE’
You know all too often we hide our messages in what might be construed of as humour and jest, but the underlying potency of the message is still there. So lace it in humour all you want, and if it was in fact funny, I would be the first to laugh. However, I saw little funny in those matters. I don’t know what economic sources you have but to pass off China’s rise as merely and solely a matter of exchange rates is unfair and misleading. Yes, China does maintain an low exchange rate against the dollar but so do the Japanese and the Yen. They can afford to do so primarily because of American consumerism and Asian thrift. However, I believe you omitted the fact that these countries have greatly expanding local demand. What will take some time is for China to develop centres of research and innovation on par with that of the USA. They’re definitel catching and when they surpass the US, the world dynamic will be more level. What also works in favour of China is the ability with which it can roll out reforms and advances. The US, with its tiered systems of governance often leading to a mismatch of policies and lack of political will, will suffer. At this moment the Chinese Panda is akin to an agile cat, versus the slow moving US. The US also needs to change its approach to its grab for oil and resources. The Chinese have much better approached the situation as in Africa to the chagrin of former colonial powers, France and UK. The United States appears more like the conquistador of old, especiallly with Haiti at the moment. There is much distrust as to its approach to reconstruct Haiti, seeing Haiti not as a future equal partner but as a future cash cow and centre for American cheap goods, oil and gold. A more sensible US foreign policy is needed and I think its getting there slowly but surely, with glimmering signs in the never-ending Israel West Bank home construction saga. So boy Toot Too, you better keep your English fresh & start some…