Boosting Vieux Fort Community Spirit Through Sport

Trevon Richard is a man on a mission to use sport to steer young people away from anti-social pursuits and boost the community spirit in Vieux Fort. The twenty-six-year-old Vieux Fort Primary School teacher and some of his friends have started a self-funded basketball camp for youngsters in the South aged 9 to 16.  One of the volunteer coaches for the Camp is Jean Pierre Frederick, who is from Belle Vue, Vieux Fort, and was able to study abroad through a basketball scholarship. Travon Richard, who represented Saint Lucia in basketball, told St. Lucia Times that the plan is to launch the Nexus Basketball Club, Nexus being a play on the words ‘next’ and ‘us’. In the long term, he and his friends expect the club to promote other sports, get uniforms and equipment, attract coaches, and organise games. “Sports can change your perception of the world. It builds a stronger mindset and promotes teamwork. Young people who show anti-social behaviour, in sports are forced to appreciate the next person, appreciate their teammate, build that sense of teamwork,” Richard explained. He also noted that sports help to cultivate discipline and acceptance of defeat with humility. The two-week basketball camp for...