Ministry of Sports throws support behind Republic Bank “Five-for-Fun”
CASTRIES, St Lucia – The Ministry of Sport in St Lucia has thrown full support behind the Republic Bank “Five-for-Fun” cricket initiative for boys and girls and has pledged to continue to help grow the game on the island. Speaking recently, Kenson Casimir, the Minister of Sport; said he was hugely impressed by the work put in by the St Lucia National Cricket Association (SLNCA) and Republic Bank to make the pilot project a resounding success.
Republic Bank and Cricket West Indies (CWI) partnered to create and trial this unique 5-over, 5-player format of the game that sees CWI leveraging their extensive coaching and school’s development infrastructure and Republic Bank’s group-wide “Power to Make a Difference” programme.
“When you have initiatives like these that would start as early as age for 12 and under it speaks to somebody getting it. It speaks to a corporate sponsor getting it, it speaks to a cricket association getting it, it speaks to coaches getting it and it speaks to a society that understands that if we’re serious about sports development we need to start as early as possible,” Casimir said.
“I can assure everybody that the Ministry of Youth Development and Sports is serious about the development of the next generation of cricketers as early as possible. The fact that this ‘Five-for-Fun’ was executed during this tumultuous time speaks volumes about the effort of the St Lucia National Cricket Association and the absolute love for development of Republic Bank … and we see the Republic Bank logo all over television when there is regional cricket, when there is something going on in development and we must applaud them and ask them to just continue the great work.”
He was speaking at the closing ceremony of the inaugural edition. The “5 for Fun” pilot scheme started with zonal games held earlier this year. The finals took place at the Daren Sammy Cricket Ground, and the winners were River Doree Anglican Combined School with Millet Primary School as the runners-up.
With a combined parish structure forming five zones, 19 school teams participated in zonal preliminary rounds leading to a grand “Five-for-Fun” festival finals. It is hoped that following this successful trial, this new fun and child friendly format will be introduced into other countries across the region in the coming years.
Click HERE to view the Presentation Ceremony