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Football Finals For Mindoo Philip Park This Weekend
Two of the national competitions currently being run by the St. Lucia Football Association will culminate this Sunday at the Mindoo Philip Park. The final of the inaugural women's football league will see a meeting between Helenites and Athletico at 5pm. That match will be followed by the eagerly awaited final of the XVI Cable & Wireless Youth Cup.
The final four of the Under-Nineteen tournament played last weekend at the Park. On Saturday, Gros Islet and Soufriere played to a goalless draw. Gros Islet advanced to the final 3-2 on penalty kicks. On Sunday evening, Dennery convincingly defeated Anse la Raye 3-1 with two goals coming from the boot of Aaron Flavien and a third from Leviticus Gilbert.
Both finalists have won this competition on previous occasions, and the 1999 final of St. Lucia's most prestigious youth football tournament promises to be an exciting affair. Players who excel in the Cable & Wireless Youth Cup competition have historically moved on to the Olympic Under-23 team, not to mention the senior national team.
Minister of Women's Affairs Hon. Sarah Flood-Beabrun will be on hand for the women's final. Clive Beaubrun will represent tournament sponsors Cox and Company. From Cable & Wireless, General Manager David Wright and Divisional Manager (Corporate Affairs) Keats Compton will be in attendance.
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American Basketball Star Set for St. Lucia
The Ministry of Tourism and the Ministry of Education, Human Resource Development, Youth and Sports are joining forces with the St. Lucia Amateur Basketball Association to bring professional basketball to the island. Through an activity slated for mid-September, some 300 local players will get the opportunity to rub shoulders with an American professional basketballer.
Malik Sealy is a seventh-year guard for the NBA's Minnesota Timberwolves – he averaged a career-high fourteen points for the LA Clippers in the 1996-97 season. Ordinarily, St. Lucians would only ever see him on television. Thanks to a group of corporate sponsors including Cable & Wireless (St. Lucia) scores of young players from around the island will be able to meet Sealy and to learn from his experience. The National NBA Star Basketball Clinic will expose secondary school students and club players to the best the game has to offer. The Clinic runs from September 12-17 at venues islandwide, and Cable & Wireless will assist the Ministry with promotional activities. The company will also provide meals for the participants, while the Ministry of Tourism has secured accommodation and airfare for Sealy.
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Youthful Men's Squad Called For National Volleyball Training
(September 3) - A youthful men's squad has been named to go into training for the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Men's Volleyball Championships in St. Kitts in October. Six of the twenty players who begin training Sunday under returning coach Patrick Brown were included on the junior team which competed in the Second Caribbean Under Twenty Championships in Jamaica last month. Surprisingly, national champions Cable & Wireless Ciceron Seagulls don't have the biggest representation in the squad. Candidus Brown, named Most Valuable Player in the Vitamalt National Competition, is one of five Seagulls called up. Junior national player Kevin Jean has also been called up, while there are recalls for players like Hervan Brown, Errol Samuel and Servin Mangroo.
Two setters are among seven players from national finalists Jetsetters who were named to the side. Former OECS MVP Ayinde Kunta Williams and junior national player Sherman Elibox can both command a spot in the final team. Junior national players Dayne Williams and Dionus Augustus came in for high praise in Jamaica. Dwight Thomas, Kendel Charlery and Jeff Desir are also among the twenty. Tombstone's Jason Octave led the junior team to Jamaica. He's one of four players from that club to have been called up for senior duties. Vilan Edwards, Bennet St. Brice and Celsus Leon will all be in training. From Le Club Volleyball, Neil Octave deputised for Jason in Jamaica. Neil, Kendal Joseph, John Calderon and veteran Gerard Joseph were also called up from Le Club Volleyball.
Claude "Corbeau" Richards is a notable omission from the twenty-member squad. A former national captain and MVP of the OECS tournament, Corbeau is likely to be unavailable for St. Kitts. Junior national players Dillon Prospere and Kirchner Dolcie from Phoenix were also left out. The OECS men's tournament has been held on thirteen previous occasions. St. Lucia has won every time.
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Commonwealth Champ to Lead St. Lucia at CAC Bodybuilding
(September 3) - A small, but talented contingent will represent St. Lucia at the 1999 Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Bodybuilding Championships in St. Martin, September 24-26. In the absence of National Championships, which the St. Lucia Amateur Bodybuilding Association this year eschewed due to lack of interest, the team was selected on the basis of performance in previous regional and international competition.
Commonwealth middleweight champion Julian Felix leads the team. Felix has won two consecutive CAC middleweight titles, and his achievements earned him St. Lucia's Sportsman of the Year award for 1997 and 1998. This year, Felix will be moving up to the light heavyweight division, which he successfully contested at the Eastern Caribbean Championships - held in St. Martin last July - where he was the sole St. Lucian competitor.
Rolandson "the Beast" Auguste makes a return to the stage. A former Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States champion, Auguste will not be entered as an individual competitor. Instead, he will take part in the team posing component of the Championships. Alphonsus Joseph, entered in the bantamweight category, will be seeking to repeat or possibly improve on his second place finish from the 1998 competition.
Two staunch women athletes complete the team. Lightweight competitor Monica Dudley finished fourth at CAC in 1998, and she's excellent in pairs and team posing. Melisha Thomas is a classy, experienced middleweight. She ended last year's Championships with a bronze medal.
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Changing of the Guard in Muscle Ranks
(September 3) - Cornelius Sidonie has resigned the presidency of the St. Lucia Amateur Bodybuilding Association. Sidonie, who is employed by the St. Lucia Development Bank, cites the difficulty of juggling his profession and his beloved bodybuilding. Under Sidonie's leadership, the Association has taken the once-dormant sport back to the heights that it enjoyed some two decades ago in St. Lucia.
Julian Felix is the best and most successful example of St. Lucia's return to prominence. Over the past three years, Felix has dominated every competition in which he has been entered, including the inaugural Commonwealth Championships in 1998. Rolandson "the Beast" Auguste, Lawrence "Robocop" Stephens, Alphonsus Joseph, Bill Wilson and Monica Dudley have also contributed. Adolphus Small has been named as Sidonie's interim successor and the former SLABA vice-president certainly inherits a body in good shape. Still, the Association is currently undergoing a major restructuring drive. Both Small and Sidonie say that one crucial aspect of that drive will be a move towards increasing the number and quality of athletes taking part in bodybuilding in St. Lucia.
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