SLBF Celebrates Inaugural Basketball Awards

The St Lucia Basketball Federation (SLBF) hosted its first ever Basketball Awards last Saturday at the St Lucia Olympic Inc Headquarters in La Clery under the theme “A celebration of dedication, achievements and progress”.  The awards ceremony objective was to recognize the achievements and support of members of the; basketball, sporting, media and private sector fraternity for their contribution, assistance and dedication to the sport of basketball. The awards covered a number of categories and over a period of time.  

The evening’s Master of Ceremony was Kendell “Scady” Eugene. The proceedings got underway with the national anthem and prayer by the assistant secretary Marlene Emmanuel. SLBF President, Leslie Collymore graced the attendees with a short yet poignant welcome address, re-enforcing the fact that continued, sustained support is the only way to achieve progress and that basketball is bigger than any one person nor should it be left as the responsibility of a few.  

Guest Speaker, St Lucia Olympic Committee Inc President, Fortuna Belrose followed with her words of encouragement and advice to the invited guests.  The following awards were presented at the ceremony. 2017 Commercial Basket League Outstanding Awards:  Jerren St Clair – Most Blocks; Rahim Auguste – Most Steals and Most Assists; Most Rebounds – Marcian Calderon; Most Points – Andre Louison.

Awards 2018: Under 19 Female Basketballer of the Year – Mia George. U-19 Male Basketballer of the Year – Jean Pierre Tarick Frederick; Senior Male Basketballer of the Year – Troy Louison; MVP Regular Season Commercial League 2018 – Troy Louison.  

Team Awards 2018: Courts Jets; 3×3 U19 Female team (Mia George, Jermiah Evariste, Cleo JnBaptiste & Faith Chitolie). Sponsor Awards: Bank of St Lucia, St Lucia National Lotteries Authority (NLA), Peter & Company Distribution, FLOW, LUCELEC, KFC/ Real Foods, Blue Waters, St Lucia Olympic Committee Inc, Ministry of Youth Development and Sports.  

Under the Media category, the following individuals or organizations were recognized. Anthony Debeauville (Voice Publishing Company), David Pascal (Star Publishing Company), Winners TV, St Lucia Sports Online and Vybe Radio. Volunteers are a major part of successfully hosting events and for the last few years the BILD volunteers in particular Stanious Charles and Dania, assisted tirelessly over the years and the SLBF saw it fitting to provide them with a token of their appreciation. This award was collected by Mary Wilfred. 

Other persons or organizations who played an integral role included officials/referees, coaches, technical committee and management teams. They were also recognized and received they to received tokens of appreciation. The award recipients included the Association of Basketball Officials of Saint Lucia represented by Vanessa Williams; Mini Hoops/ Youth Basketball,  Eva Williams (Mr Magic Basketball); Gabriel Inglis (St Lucia Basketball Academy represented by Anthony Pologne); and Ron DuMurville  (Basketball for the Future). 

Coaches’ Awards: Germaine Thomas – Female basketball coach for Windward Islands & 3×3; Hewan Edwin – coach of the longest winning streak in Commercial Basketball. A Technical Committee/Management award was presented to Anthony Lamontagne. The recipient of A Lifetime Achievement Award was Matthew “Fudge” Raphael. It was announced that in the future a coaching award will be named in his honor. A Special award was also presented to the SLBF General Secretary, Velica Augustin in recognition of her outstanding dedication to the sport of basketball.  

The evening came to a close with a video presentation of activities and events hosted by the SLBF and some light refreshments. The SLBF Lucia Basketball thanked the organizations and individuals who made this event a reality.