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UWI TODAY
– SUNDAY 3 FEBRUARY 2019
SPORTS
World Universiti
UWI’s decades-long project
sport make January a
B Y J O E
It’s early January and the campus is quiet.
The classrooms
are empty and the louvres shut. Only the trees and bushes are
lively, swaying and rustling in the breeze. The campus is quiet,
but not the cricket pitch.
The Frank Worrell Memorial Grounds, a section of the
expansive green field that makes up the domain of the UWI
Sport and Physical Education Centre (SPEC) is alive with
cricket. The weeks are filled with T20 play as two tournaments
are being held almost simultaneously on the campus.
“What we are witnessing on the campus is an explosion
of cricket,” says Campus Principal Professor Brian Copeland
speaking at the launch of the UWI Universities World T20
Tournament. The month of January has been dubbed “Cricket
Month” at UWI St Augustine.
The UWI Universities T20 was held from January 10
th
to
20
th
, and included teams fromuniversities in the UK, US and of
course the Caribbean. The inaugural event ended with victory
for the Combined Campuses and Colleges (CCC) team, the
2018-2019 Regional Super50 Championship winning team
made up of student athletes from the region.
Alongside the international cricket action was a top-
level local event, the UWI-Unicom National T20 Cricket
Tournament. Running from January 5
th
to 27
th
, UWI-Unicom
brought together teams from Trinidad and Tobago in the 7
th
annual display of club cricket. The Queen’s Park Cricket Club
(QPCC) defeated El Socorro Youth Movement (EYM) by a
hefty 137 runs to become the champions.
Both tournaments represent the pay-off of UWI’s
investment in cricket and sport in general.
“We know our athletes are world-class because our
sporting archives are full of their trophies and medals, and our
history is full of tales of their accomplishments,” said Copeland
at the launch. “But talent alone is not enough. Athletes need
support in every quarter for them to achieve their full potential.”
That support has been building since the 1990s when
Vice-Chancellor Sir Hilary Beckles, in his position as Sports
Coordinator at the Cave Hill Campus, led several initiatives to
revitalise cricket at UWI and within the West Indies.
Another product of the emerging “sports mindset” was
the establishment of UWI SPEC in 2003, the brainchild of Dr
Iva Gloudon, former Director of Sport and Physical Education.
The victorious CCC team holds the Challenge Trophy high after besting Oxfor
PHOTO: ANEEL KARIM
Members of the Oxford Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) taking shade at UWI SPEC.
PHOTO: ANEEL KARIM
Dr Akshai Mansingh, Dean of The UWI Faculty of Sport, speaks to a gathering of players, cricket enthusiasts and UWI representatives at a
closing reception for the Universities T20 at Brian Lara’s residence.
PHOTO: ATIBA CUDJOE
The UWI bowlers gave a forceful showing at the World T20
Tournament but unfortunately it wasn’t enough.
PHOTO: ANEEL KARIM
The Challenge Trophy.
THE INVEST
