News Releases

UWI Games 2009 kicks off with Opening Ceremony

For Release Upon Receipt - May 14, 2009

St. Augustine


UWI Games 2009 will kick off with an opening ceremony on Thursday 21st May, 2009 from 4:00 p.m. This ceremony, officiated by Deputy Principal, Professor Rhoda Reddock, will officially open the University’s biennial student games, which will be held at the UWI Sport and Physical Education Complex (SPEC) at the St. Augustine Campus. UWI SPEC will also host the UWI Games Cultural Night on Monday 25th May, from 7:00 p.m., featuring a range of performances and presentations by student-athletes from the St Augustine, Cave Hill (Barbados) and Mona (Jamaica) Campuses.

UWI Games 2009 will showcase over 400 athletes from the three campuses, who will compete in track and field, football, netball, cricket, volleyball, basketball, 6-a-side hockey, swimming, table tennis and lawn tennis. UWI Games 2009 will culminate in a festive Closing Ceremony on Tuesday 28th May, 2009.

Most of the sporting activities will be held at the UWI St Augustine Sport and Physical Education Centre (SPEC). With 34,000-plus square feet of indoor space, seating capacity for 1360 people, and fully equipped outdoor facilities, UWI SPEC is widely recognised as a significant resource for regional sport development, training and research. During the weeklong Games, the SPEC will be converted into a Recreational Village, where athletes and supporters can enjoy a relaxed atmosphere, music and entertainment.

The UWI Games are part of the University’s ongoing preparations for the upcoming inaugural Caribbean Games, which are carded to take place in Trinidad from July 12th to 19th. Over 1300 athletes from across the Caribbean will gather for this significant regional event, which is the very first of its kind. As the leading higher education institution in the English-speaking Caribbean, UWI provides premier sporting facilities and sport-related academic programmes in the region. The University’s offering of sport-related undergraduate degree programmes include Sport and Tourism Management, Sport Management, Coaching and Physical Education. The University’s newest sport programme is a postgraduate diploma programme in Sport Management, which will be hosted by an Institute for Sport Studies housed in UWI SPEC. This postgraduate programme emerged from a recently signed agreement between the University and The International Centre for Sports Studies (CIES), which is the academic arm of world football governing body FIFA.

For more information about UWI Games or UWI SPEC, please e-mail Iva.Gloudon@sta.uwi.edu or specinfo@sta.uwi.edu, or call (868) 662-2002 Extension 2660, 3556 or 3571, or Fax (868) 662-2002 Ext. 2662.For this and other news stories on UWI, please visit our official news website at http://sta.uwi.edu/news .

ABOUT UWI

Over the last six decades, The University of the West Indies (UWI) has evolved from a fledgling college in Jamaica with 33 students to a full-fledged University with over 40,000 students. Today, UWI is the largest and most longstanding higher education provider in the English-speaking Caribbean, with main campuses in Barbados, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago, and Centres in Anguilla, Antigua & Barbuda, The Bahamas, Belize, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, St Christopher (St Kitts) & Nevis, St Lucia, and St Vincent & the Grenadines. UWI recently launched its Open Campus, a virtual campus with over 50 physical site locations across the region, serving over 20 countries in the English-speaking Caribbean. UWI is an international university with faculty and students from over 40 countries and collaborative links with over 60 universities around the world. Through its seven Faculties, UWI offers undergraduate and postgraduate degree options in Engineering, Humanities & Education, Law, Medical Sciences, Pure & Applied Sciences, Science and Agriculture, and Social Sciences.

Contact

  • UWI Sport and Physical Education Centre

  • Tel.: (868) 662-2002 Extension 2660, 3556 or 3571
  • Email: Iva.Gloudon@sta.uwi.edu