National Cricket Association honored their best

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he St Lucia National Cricket Association (SLNCA) honored their best at their annual awards ceremony Friday evening at the Bay Gardens Beach Resort.

On hand for the occasion was President of the SLNCA and a Director on the West Indies Cricket Board, Julian Charles; Castries South Parliamentary Representative, Ernest Hilaire; Honorary Member, Alicia John; executive members of the SLNCA and players.

Young cricketer Kimani Melius presently playing for West Indies in the Under- 19 World Cup in New Zealand, Qiana Josesph who made the West Indies Women’s Squad along with Johnson Charles on the men’s team were among the recipients of awards.

President Charles provided a comprehensive review of 2017 and highlighted outstanding performances by teams and individuals throughout the year. Looking ahead to 2018, he mentioned that St Lucia is confident of being one of the countries hosting the group stages for the upcoming Women’s World Cup. There is also a Test Match being played here against Sri Lanka in 2018 and the Hero CPL is back again.

The guest speaker was Dr Hilaire. For three years he was the CEO of the West Indies Cricket Board and head of the Organizing Committee here, when St Lucia was among the host countries for the 2007 Cricket World Cup. The politician shared his own experiences good and bad in managing players and as a former Permanent Secretary in the Department of Youth and Sports having to work in government, gave some insight into how government policy functions as it relates to sports and more specifically cricket.

Addressing the evening’s theme ‘Collective Responsibility in Pursuing Success’, Hilaire said: “When one speaks of Collective Responsibility, it really refers to people sharing the responsibility, the belief, the consequences for any decisions taken.”

Hilaire mentioned the importance of sports to a country, but confessed what many of us already know – we do not have a sporting culture in St Lucia. While we are passionate about cricket in the Caribbean, he pointed out it is on a whole different level compared to how people in India view the sport or how the English feel about football.

He emphasized  that we really don’t have that kind of passion and that kind of acceptance in our society for sports, “whether it’s cricket in India, football in England, rugby or cricket in South Africa, we don’t seem to have that kind of in our national identity that sports is important. We seem to believe that sports is a pastime.”

Hilaire touched briefly on our sporting facilities and shared a secret as to how the Beausejour Indoor facility came about. While preparing for the 2007 Cricket World Cup in St Lucia, he attended a meeting and he expressed concern, as to where cricketers would practice if it rained. Following the meeting he said to the Cricket World Cup Board that St Lucia must have a practice indoor facility if not we can fail if we don’t have it.”

Call it a little white lie, but Hilaire was able to convince the powers that be to build a low cost indoor facility.

Hilaire who is a keen negotiator, having attained an executive diploma in negotiations and conflict resolution confessed: “Our plan was to get an indoor facility as part of the Cricket World Cup preparation. It was not really necessary, but we wanted an indoor facility and the architects came up with a plan for just over two million dollars and built a shell for us. We got it approved and we built the indoor facility, under the guise if we do not have it, we could have the lost the Cricket World Cup package we had which was not true.”

Kudos to Hilaire, to this day it happens to be the only indoor facility in St Lucia.

In any sport Hilaire feels we can produce what he calls “a one off person,” who gets a medal on the international stage but views cricket entirely different.

He said: “When you look at cricket and our talent pool in St Lucia and the Caribbean, we are capable of producing world class athletes in cricket. If you look at any other sport and I dare anybody involved in any other sport, to tell me which sport in St Lucia is most likely to produce a world class athlete. It has to be cricket.”

He noted that track and field is next, but pointed out these athletes have to compete with almost all other countries with larger talent pools and higher talent levels than us.

Backing up his statement, He told his attentive audience “the average young St Lucian cricketer like Kyghan Arnold, Kimani Melius and Johnnel Eugene, at their level they are very close to being world class for their age group.”

Hilaire is convinced that cricket is the best placed sport to make St Lucia known on the world stage in its sporting endeavor and feels a priority must be given to the sport.

“If we are going to make cricket a choice sport and to make sure it is a sport that brings international respect and recognition for St Lucia, who is responsible and what should they do?

Hilaire answered his own question. “Number one I think we should start off with the Government of St Lucia. They must realize that cricket must be made the priority sport in St Lucia and if not one of the priority sports in St Lucia.”

The following individuals were recognized at the awards ceremony. Prestigious Awards: Senior Cricketer of the Year, Johnson Charles; Junior Male Cricketer of the Year, Kimani Melius; Senior Female Cricketer of the Year and also Junior Female Cricketer of the Year, Qiana Joseph.

Special awards: Akeem Auguste (junior player), Taryk Gabriel (senior), Gavin Serieux (under 16), Lee Solomon (West Indies under-16 player); Kimani Melius (West Indies Under 19 player), Qiana Joseph (West Indies Female Senior Team Player), President’s Award, Kyghan Arnold (Windward Islands Under 15 Captain and West Indies Under 15 player), Honorary Member Award, Alicia John (more than 60 years service to cricket), Patrick Felix (long service in administration, technical officer locally and regionally).