As I write, the St Augustine campus is hosting UWI Games 2026. Approximately 600 student-athletes and their supporters from the other UWI campuses in the region are taking part in intense competition from May 21 to 29 under the theme “Reunited. Reignited. Ready!” Some of the Caribbean’s top athletes in cricket, football, basketball, tennis and many other sports (ten in total) are testing each other to bring glory to themselves and their campuses.
Yet UWI Games are about much more than campus rivalry. They are an expression of The UWI’s regional character, a gathering of the Caribbean community, and an affirmation of the power of sport to develop that community and its young adults.
Sir Philip Sherlock, who was Vice-Chancellor of The UWI from 1963 to 1969, called The UWI “a special kind of partnership between peoples”. In a speech delivered in 1964, he said:
"We represent the West Indian effort at collaboration that is in direct opposition to the fragmentation and divisions imposed upon this region of ours through four centuries by the imperial rivalries of distant powers. We represent the co-operation of free peoples in a community whose history has been one of competition.”
Though the UWI Games are competitive events, in essence they encapsulate the spirit of his words. When our student-athletes take to the track, court, and field, they are participating in regionalism. They remind us that while we represent different islands and territories, we share a Caribbean identity based on scholarship and striving for better in the New World.
This edition of the Games marks a historic milestone: for the first time, all five campuses—Cave Hill, St Augustine, Mona, the Global Campus, and the newest campus, Five Islands—have converged on Trinidad and Tobago. It also represents a return to the Games since 2019, after the 2021 edition was cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Perhaps most importantly, this massive event is the latest example of the university’s investment in sport, driven by leaders such as UWI Vice-Chancellor Professor Sir Hilary Beckles, who endeavoured to restore the institution’s sporting legacy. Thanks to their efforts, The UWI established the Faculty of Sport in 2017, which serves all of the campuses through its Academies of Sport.
The academies offer professional programmes in sport-related disciplines, and also help develop many of the region’s top athletes. These include numerous young sportsmen and women competing at the national level. At UWI, we have always maintained that the "whole student" is not only developed in the lecture theatre. True education is holistic. It requires the discipline of training, the resilience to face defeat, and the humility to win with grace. Sport is a classroom in itself—for life lessons. It builds character and cultivates belonging. Above all, UWI Games 2026 is a good time. The UWI’s best will show their wizardry with bat and ball. They will show their strength, speed, and agility on the track and in the swimming pool. They will enjoy good food, good music, and the good vibes of liming with their brothers and sisters from the other islands. What could be more Caribbean than that?
For updates on UWI Games, visit the official site at https://sta.uwi.edu/uwigames/
Joel Henry
Acting Editor, UWI Today
