Table tennis is expected to take a prominent place in local sports with the handing over of twenty tennis boards along with rackets and balls to the Government of Anguilla. The sporting equipment was made available by the National Bank of Anguilla at a cost of over sixteen thousand Eastern Caribbean dollars. It was shipped to the island free of cost by Tropical Shipping, represented by Sheila Haskins.

NBA’s Chief Executive Officer, E. Valentine Banks, said the tennis boards represented another indication of the bank’s continuing desire to see a stronger community spirit and an increase in activities which would ultimately benefit all the people on the island. He pointed out that towards that end the bank’s personnel had constantly emphasised its commitment to the development of the Anguillian community over the years.

“We are part of the Anguillian community and not an island within an island,” he said. “What affects our community affects the National Bank of Anguilla. For the past 20 years, going into 21 years, this institution has sought to serve and benefit from the business activity in Anguilla. We have not however stood by and allowed things to develop and then taken advantage of the results.

“NBA has been extremely proactive in its mission towards returns for shareholders, excellence in service for its customers, the development of its staff and the betterment of the lives of our people. The view of NBA has always been that the bank needs to make things happen for the community that has not had a lot of things going for it, maybe less so now than in the past.

“Today in Anguilla we are confronted daily by numerous social challenges. These challenges I think, most agree, start with the family and then wind up with the community. NBA has done much over the years to strengthen families by allowing each household the opportunity to achieve its needs.
“We have provided opportunities in our community for enterprises that create jobs thereby allowing people to obtain the basic needs of food, clothing and shelter. Our various financial services and products are geared towards bringing to our community benefits such as access to education, housing and investments. These benefits go to nought if in some way families are not strong and thereby remain the bastions of our community.”

Mr. Banks said the gesture by the bank was another small indication of its recognition of the various communities around the island. He hoped that the table tennis equipment would help to take the youth off the streets and into productive activities. He was happy when the Minister of Sports, Evans Rogers, suggested that NBA should contribute in that manner towards the youth and the communities around the island. He added that NBA was willing to sponsor local tournaments in table tennis.

Minister Evans Rogers thanked NBA and Haskins Ltd, agents of Tropical Shipping, for their important roles. He said there were now other challenges including providing housing for the tennis boards to ensure that they were cared. He was pleased that NBA was willing to sponsor a local championship and expressed his desire to see a schools’ tournament as well. He said it was evident that a private and public partnership could work if the necessary strategies were organised in a collective manner.

Mr. Rogers disclosed that a Table Tennis Association was being formed on the island and that it was invited to join the Caribbean Table Tennis Association as well as the International Table Tennis Federation. He indicated that he was personally involved in the efforts in order to ensure success.

The Minister mentioned that the table tennis boards were part of an overall sports development plan. He pledged to make sure that programmes were put in place so that school children and the community at large would benefit from them.

He added that the Caribbean Table Tennis Association had already offered to send some coaches to Anguilla and to accommodate coaches and players from the island for short seminars in order to ensure that the game was played properly.

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