Nevis Tournament
Another fun event to note on your calendars is coming up next week in Charlestown Nevis! It’s all about NETBALL!
For those who aren’t familiar with the sport, it is defined by Wikipedia as “Netball is a limited-contact team sport originating from the United States similar to, and derived from, basketball. Invented in 1895 by Clara Gregory Baer,[1] a pioneer in women’s sport, netball is now pre-eminently played as a women’s team sport in Australia and New Zealand and is popular in the West Indies, Sri Lanka, and the United Kingdom. Over 20 million people play netball in more than 70 countries.”
To be held on July 2nd to the 5th, is the 2009 version of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank-sponsored Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Under-23 Netball Tournament. FUN!
The tournament will take place at 4:30pm on July 2 with a March Pass of the teams and officials from the Treasury Apron in downtown Charlestown to the Netball Complex, where the matches scheduled for the evening will be preceded by a brief opening ceremony. For the rest of the tournament, three matches would be played at 7am and three more at 6:30pm.
SKNVibes, my favorite news source, reported that Allister ‘Allie’ Thompson, Treasurer and Public Relations Officer of the Local Organising Committee said, “Everything is pretty much in place for the hosting of the tournament here on Nevis this year.”
Preparations are in the works! The Nevis Island Government is ensuring that well-needed renovation works are presently being carried out at the Grove Park Netball Complex. The stands are being repaired and painted, and restorative work is being done on the three available courts, where the tournament will be staged.
The participating islands include last year’s champions Grenada, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, St. Kitts, Antigua & Barbuda, St. Lucia, Anguilla, Dominica and host Nevis.
Thompson indicated that the netballers would have the three courts available, which is a standard requirement for the tournament. The center court and the court on the western end of the Complex, closest to the open stand, will be used for matches, while the court at the other end will be used for practice.
He also said that spectators would be allowed into the Complex free of charge for the morning matches, but would be required to pay EC$5 for the evening matches.
Meanwhile, the Nevis Cricket Association has agreed to reschedule the matches in the Women’s Community League scheduled for July 2 and July 4 in order to accommodate the netball tournament. The affected teams will be informed of the new dates today (June 25).
The competition continues today with St. Thomas’ taking on GT United and on Saturday St. James’ will be playing against St. John’s while St. George’s will tackle Highlights International.
Nevis Lover ~ Becca Briley 
