On a recent Saturday at the Fancy Hardcourt sports facility, the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Netball Association (SVGNA) officially kicked off its ambitious new Game Changers Netball Grassroots Development Programme — a multi-year initiative designed to grow the sport from the ground up across the island nation.
The opening event drew a diverse cross-section of local sports stakeholders, including young aspiring athletes between the ages of 4 and 14, both male and female, alongside sport administrators, community leaders, and local residents. For the young participants, the first session served as an accessible introduction to the core fundamentals of netball, with an early focus on building foundational movement skills and fostering collaborative teamwork from the very start of the programme.
Alongside training for young athletes, the launch included a dedicated educational workshop for sports administrators on up-to-date official netball rules. The session was led by Moeth Gaymes, who holds dual roles as Chair of the SVGNA Umpires and Technical Officials Committee and is an internationally recognized award-winning netball umpire, bringing expert-level knowledge to the training.
A core pillar of the entire Game Changers programme is its emphasis on safeguarding and safe sport principles. Organizers have integrated targeted training modules that reinforce the shared responsibility of all stakeholders to cultivate athletic spaces that are safe, respectful, and supportive for young athletes and every person involved in the sport. This focus aligns with growing global efforts to prioritize child protection and athlete well-being in grassroots sports development.
Several high-profile local sports and political figures attended the launch to mark the occasion. Attendees included Shevern John, Parliamentary Representative for North Windward; Shimano Bailey, who serves as both Vice President of the SVG Olympic Committee (SVGOC) and Chair of the SVGOC Safeguarding/Safe Sport Commission; Keith Joseph, General Secretary of the SVGOC; and multiple members of the SVGNA Executive Committee.
The ground-breaking initiative has been made possible through funding and strategic support from the Commonwealth Games Committee, with coordination and local facilitation handled by the SVG Olympic Committee. The programme will run through December 2026, holding scheduled Saturday sessions between 9:30 a.m. and 12:00 noon across two host venues: the Fancy Hardcourt and the Chilli Hardcourt in Georgetown.
The rotating venue schedule splits programming across the two sites: Fancy Hardcourt will host sessions from August 15 to September 12, and again from December 5 to 19, while Chilli Hardcourt will run sessions from September 19 to October 10, and from October 31 to November 28 each cycle.
Beyond just building on-court skills for young players, the Game Changers programme takes a holistic approach to netball development, targeting growth across all segments of the local sport ecosystem: athletes, new coaches, aspiring umpires, and local administrators. Alongside skill-building, the initiative promotes core life values including teamwork, personal discipline, leadership, and a deeper understanding of the sport’s structure and ethos.
In a statement following the launch, SVGNA representatives confirmed that the association will continue expanding grassroots netball development work through partnerships with local community groups. The long-term goal of the programme is to create broader accessible opportunities for young people across St. Vincent and the Grenadines to participate in netball, while strengthening the institutional capacity of administrators and stakeholders to grow the sport sustainably across the country for years to come.