It was an exciting weekend, especially on April 26 with the holding of the National Sports Awards and the Central Christian School Charity Golf Tournament. Many have read in this column that the support of the wider community, and especially the expatriate community, is vital for meagre initiatives to take shape.

Virtually every programme in Anguilla dealing with sports, as well as NGO’s and community oriented organizations are what one would call “grassroots.” Of course this is not meant in a derogatory way as anything but grassroots would be considered elite and posh. Every facility, programme and organization is still developing and constantly looking for support. Although the Anguilla Tennis Academy looks big and beautiful, we are still considered as a grassroots programme.

The Central Christian School is undertaking a bold and imaginative approach to educating youth. The Honourable Minister of Finance Mr. Victor Banks spoke at the ending ceremony at the Temenos Golf Club in which he reiterated how proud he was of the church for taking steps like these. It is all too common that people in smaller countries assume that Government must be responsible for everything where as in other places of the world people would prefer that Government not be involved at all, as there are certain restrictions placed when they do get their hands in the cookie jar. The fact is, the Governments cannot afford, nor do they have the manpower to fund everything associated with the upbringing of communities. The onus is actually on the community itself, as a collective group, to bring forth positive change.

It is unfortunate that at the recently held National Sports Awards, cricket got all the attention. Although cricket is a national sport in many Caribbean islands and has strong historical references, in the modern world we are producing star athletes in a multitude of disciplines. Anguilla is fortunate that many new facilities are currently under construction. If we want to encourage these athletes in the various sports we have to do a better job at representing them on the national level; ie at the National Sports Awards. Anguilla should be proud of the initiatives taken by various organizations that are working within the community. There is a new football stadium being constructed by the AFA, there are talks of an aquatic centre, the Department of Sports is investing heavily in Athletics by building a new multi-purpose facility, the Blowing Point playing field is being developed, the Road Primary School is getting a new sports facility and, of course, Anguilla without a doubt has the best tennis facility in all of the Lesser Antilles. All of these facilities have hundreds of active and extremely talented athletes and it is important that the support from the Sports Department be objective and equally shared. The Sports Department is to be lauded for recently making a new table tennis programme available and for putting a substantial amount of funds towards it. It is everyone’s hope that the same energy can be applied to other similar, smaller, initiatives so that at the end of the day everyone can say that in Anguilla there is something to do for everyone.
The support shown for the Central Christian School this past weekend was simply awesome. Many different people who sit on different organizing committees and boards of other charitable organizations all came together and worked for a good cause. There was no politics involved. No one’s egos got in the way. Both children and adults worked together and, in turn, much needed funds were raised. It was a beautiful thing to see and again reiterates how important it is for the community to get together. Have a great weekend.

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