分类： sports

Next week, the Caribbean island of Barbados will play host to one of the most important annual gatherings of global sporting governance, as the Commonwealth Sport Executive Board convenes for its latest in-person meeting. The gathering forms a key part of the organization’s long-running “on the road” initiative, designed to break away from a fixed headquarters model and bring decision-makers directly into the communities and member nations they serve.

The on-the-road strategy was crafted to foster closer, more meaningful connections between the central governing body and its 72 member associations and regional partners across the globe. Unlike closed-door, centrally held meetings, this approach prioritizes on-the-ground engagement that lets board members grasp the unique challenges, priorities, and strengths of local sporting ecosystems. This session in Barbados will pair formal strategic governance work with a full schedule of stakeholder engagement activities, including structured roundtable discussions with senior Barbadian government representatives, and a full day dedicated to celebrating the island’s unique cultural and sporting heritage. The day of cultural activity will close with a high-profile showcase of road tennis, Barbados’ homegrown, community-centered indigenous sport that has become a beloved pastime across the island.

Once the Barbados meeting concludes, Commonwealth Sport President Dr. Donald Rukare will lead a small official delegation on a follow-up visit to Antigua and Barbuda. During that trip, the delegation will hold talks with senior government leaders and representatives from the Antigua and Barbuda Commonwealth Games Association to advance coordination and planning for Commonwealth Sport’s participation in the 2026 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), scheduled to take place in November next year.

In a statement previewing the visit, Dr. Rukare framed the on-the-road board model as core to the organization’s identity as a truly global, member-centric sporting body. “Taking our board meetings on the road is an essential part of who we are as a truly global sports organisation. It allows us to connect directly with our members, understand local contexts and challenges, and build the relationships that are vital to delivering meaningful impact through sport,” he said.

Dr. Rukare added that holding the meeting in Barbados carries extra strategic and cultural weight, strengthening the organization’s long-standing partnership with Caribbean member nations while elevating the unique sporting traditions that bind the Commonwealth movement together. “By meeting in Barbados, we are not only advancing our strategic work, but also strengthening our partnership with the Caribbean region. Celebrating cultural and indigenous sports, such as road tennis, is a vital part of the Commonwealth Sport Movement, recognising the unique sporting traditions that bring communities together and define our shared identity,” he explained.

Sandra Osborne, who serves as both President of Commonwealth Sport Barbados and Vice-President of the global Commonwealth Sport organization, called the selection of Barbados as host a significant honor for the island nation. “It is a great honour for Barbados to host the Commonwealth Sport Executive Board and to welcome colleagues from across the Commonwealth to our island,” Osborne said. “This visit is an opportunity to showcase not only our strong sporting culture, but also the richness of our heritage, which reflects the creativity, resilience and community spirit that defines our nation. We’re looking forward to welcoming everyone, sharing a bit of what makes Barbados special, and giving them a real sense of how important sport is to everyday life here.”

The Barbados Cricket Association (BCA) has confirmed a reshuffle of leadership roles across its national youth cricket selection panels, bringing a familiar name from top-level cricket into the chairmanship of the men’s junior selection body while retaining key institutional knowledge to support continued development.

Forty-five-year-old Jason Haynes, a former first-class cricket competitor, will step into the role of chairman of the national youth men’s cricket selection panel, taking over from previous chair Elvis Howard. Howard will not depart the committee entirely, however; he will retain his seat as one of the five members of the panel, joining fellow existing members Shirley Clarke, Roderick Estwick and Nhamo Winn.

In an official press statement issued by the BCA, the governing body publicly recognized Howard’s years of dedicated leadership in the role, noting that his continued presence on the new-look panel delivers the critical stability that youth cricket programs depend on. The association highlighted that Howard’s deep, firsthand understanding of emerging junior players across Barbados remains an invaluable asset for the selection process.

Haynes will not be leaving his existing post with the senior men’s selection panel, and will continue to serve in that capacity while taking on his new youth-focused responsibilities. The remit of the men’s junior selection panel remains unchanged: its core mandate is to oversee talent selection for Barbados’ Under-13, Under-15, Under-17 and Under-19 men’s national squads, and it will also continue to provide strategic input for the Sir Everton Weekes Centre of Excellence, the island’s elite development hub for young cricketers.

In a parallel update, the BCA confirmed that Patricia Greenidge will retain her position as chair of both the national women’s junior and senior selection panels. She will be joined on the women’s selection committees by Ulric Batson and former West Indies international cricketer Sherwin Campbell. Campbell, a former captain of the Barbados men’s national side who earned 52 Test caps and 90 One Day International caps for the West Indies during his playing career, has been appointed to a new dual role: he will now serve as head coach for both the women’s junior and senior national squads.

Campbell’s first task in his new coaching position will be leading the Barbados Under-19 women’s squad at this year’s Cricket West Indies (CWI) regional youth competition, where the island’s emerging female talent will compete against teams from across the Caribbean.

The halls of academia quieted down on Friday at Erdiston Teacher’s Training College, as the annual inter-house sports event took center stage at the Pine Hill campus in Barbados. This year, defending champions Yellow House stepped onto the field to defend their hard-won title against fierce rivals Red House and Green House, turning the grounds into a hub of energy and friendly competition.

Unlike typical academic days on campus, the 2024 sports meet blended classic track races with lighthearted novelty events, drawing enthusiastic participation from trainee teachers across all three residential houses. Both Red and Green House earned a reputation for their raucous, passionate support—with participants and cheering fans alike chanting loudly for their teammates from the opening sprint to the final novelty event.

In an interview with local media outlet Barbados TODAY, Dr. Sonia St Hill, Meet Director and Social Studies tutor at the college, framed the annual gathering as far more than a simple athletic competition. She described the event as a deliberate effort to nurture the collaborative, community-focused skills that future Barbadian teachers need to support young people across the island.

Addressing growing concerns about youth crime and social disconnection in Barbadian society, St Hill emphasized that character and community building begins in teacher training. “We want people to come together to show love, to show cooperation, because we know right now in our society we’re having a spillover when it comes to our young people and crime, and this is where it starts in terms of teachers’ education,” she explained.

The college’s goal, St Hill noted, is to equip new trainee teachers with the soft skills needed to foster connected, supportive learning environments once they enter primary and secondary schools across the country. “So we want to equip our novice teachers with all of the skills necessary, so that when they get into the school they can continue what we’re doing here, building family, building relationships, and building a community,” she added.

Even the meet’s family-focused novelty events, which include races that bring young children and their parents together to compete as teams, are designed to model this collaborative spirit. While competitors fight for placement on the podium, every participant leaves with a reward, reinforcing that community connection matters more than winning. So far, trainee teachers have shown deep investment in the event’s core mission, St Hill said.

Friday’s meet also marked a key milestone for the college: it is the third full in-person active sports event held since COVID-19 restrictions lifted. St Hill shared that the overwhelming excitement and enthusiasm among participants this year far exceeds expectations, signaling a full return to the campus’s beloved pre-pandemic community traditions.

The long-running public disagreement between the Barbados Cricket Association (BCA) and Cricket West Indies (CWI) over the allocation of international matches to Kensington Oval has reached a formal standstill, after BCA President Calvin Hope announced he will no longer engage in further public debate on the issue. Hope made his position clear in an exclusive interview with Barbados TODAY, responding to recent public comments from CWI Vice-President Azim Bassarath, noting that the conflict has already been discussed extensively across public platforms and it is time to bring the conversation to a close. Hope added that he already laid out his full position during a recent appearance on the Mason and Guest Cricket Show, and has no new statements to add to the public record.

“As far as I am concerned, Mr Bassarath knows very well what my concerns are and what I said. All others involved would have known what my concerns are as well, and these are not new things,” Hope told reporters. “I don’t have anything more to add at this time. I made my comment, that’s the end of that as far as I’m concerned. Cricket West Indies will do what they have to do, and I just hope that things would improve, that’s all I could say.”

The core of the dispute stems from CWI’s 2025 decision to exclude Barbados and its iconic Kensington Oval from the year’s schedule of international cricket matches. Hope has long criticized the call as unreasonable, a position he says is shared by ordinary cricket fans across the country. “But I really don’t want to get into it because Barbados shouldn’t have to be trying to justify why cricket should be held in Barbados or anything like that. Reasonableness should always be obtained, and basically I would say that there was no reasonableness in this,” Hope explained. “Anybody looking on, the average man on the Black Rock bus would hold that view, given the number of international matches that are scheduled to be hosted across the Caribbean region this year. So I don’t want to get into anything more.”

With the public dispute put aside, Hope is now turning his full attention to growing the domestic game, as the 2026 BCA season officially got underway on April 4. The association has launched a series of new initiatives aimed at strengthening grassroots cricket, which Hope calls the backbone of the Caribbean sport. Key priorities include upgrading club administration, boosting competitive standards across all levels of domestic play, and rolling out new incentive programs designed to keep emerging players motivated.

Thus far, the response to the new reforms has been encouraging, according to the BCA president. “Well it appears that there’s some enthusiasm with the new initiatives and things got off to a reasonable start. I think clubs are enthusiastic, certainly at the elite level,” Hope noted. “We will be working with the clubs going forward in an effort to have a successful season as usual. Our domestic cricket is usually very successful, with no major incidents and so forth.”

For the BCA, sustaining the legacy of grassroots club and school cricket is a non-negotiable long-term priority, as these levels are the foundation for developing future elite international talent. “To sustain the legacy of our club cricket is very, very important, it is the mainstay of all cricket. And when I say club cricket, I include schools’ cricket [because] schools are the bedrock of the production line,” Hope said. “These are things for a number of years that the BCA has been cognizant of that need to be strengthened, and we just need to provide support where we can and encourage and support each other.”

Hope also threw his full support behind a recent call from Cricket Legends of Barbados Chairman Joel Garner to increase television coverage of local domestic matches, a move designed to attract younger audiences and deepen public connection to the sport. Echoing Garner’s vision, Hope confirmed the BCA has long prioritized expanding media access to domestic cricket, and has already secured regular weekly radio commentary for match days. The association now aims to translate that success to television broadcast.

“The plan is always to promote cricket, and we are engaging all the time with the media to broadcast cricket. For years now we have had the (radio) commentary going every Saturday. I want cricket shown on TV and I share The Most Honourable Joel Garner’s concern and my desire would be to have cricket on television too,” Hope said.

While building a polished, viewer-friendly television broadcast requires significant investment in equipment and production infrastructure, Hope says the goal is well within the BCA’s long-term capabilities. “It’s all about building a media product. You need equipment and the various things of how you put that product together for people for it to be attractive to the viewer. It’s not a straightforward situation, but it is not outside of our capability,” Hope said. “I certainly will continue to work towards that and try to engage with the board and relevant authorities to see how we can pull off things like that in the future. It’s all about promotion of the game.”