Robertson S. Henry (right) recieving an International Olympic Committee award from Saint Lucia Olympic Committee president Richard Peterkin

 

CASTRIES, Saint Lucia – Sports journalism in Saint Lucia, and by extension the

wider Caribbean have received a boost with the establishment of a sports

website by two Saint Lucians.

 

A sports website, www.sportcaraibe.net is now online, and aims towards a

radical improvement in the marketing and promotion of the Caribbean sports

product at all levels. This is inclusive of improved coverage of all sporting and

sports-related events.

Stephen A. Dantes

SportCaraibe is the brainchild of Stephen A. Dantes - a teacher, and Robertson S.

Henry – a freelance sports journalist, who say, “SportCaraibe is, and will remain

a non-profit making entity, aiming to one thing and one thing only – promote and

market the Caribbean’s sporting efforts at all levels.”

 

Having recognized the limitations placed on the print, radio and television media

houses due to space constraints, a decision was arrived at to establish the

website to take up the slack.

 

According to Henry, “Notwithstanding the presence of daily newspapers in

Jamaica, Barbados, Guyana, and Trinidad and Tobago; many articles written on

sports and sports-related activities do not make the papers, or the sports casts

for that matter.”

 

As a result he says, the Caribbean’s sports product suffers, and many persons

for many reasons, in some cases justifiably so, lament the quality of sports

coverage by the region’s media houses.  

 

In this regard, www.sportcaraibe.net will seek to take up the slack, and give

the Caribbean sports man and woman, sponsor, administrator, coach, parent,

and sporting discipline, the exposure needed.

 

Dantes is confident that the Caribbean’s young people will be given an

opportunity market their skills on the international stage.

 

“The world has been reduced due to the ever improving technological

advancements made by man. Therefore, it is only fitting that advantage be taken

of it to market our people. If we do not do this right now, the rest of the world

will reap benefits that the Caribbean and its people can tap into, but have failed

to do so because of not doing what was needed to be done.”

He pointed out that the articles on the website, will be on sporting events from

the pre-school level, to the national, regional, and international level, for all

sporting disciplines; no exceptions involving Caribbean athletes, irrespective of

country.

 

Such articles will also include writings on athletes, sponsors, administrators,

sports journalists, and other topics relevant to the development of the

Caribbean sports product.

 

On the website are links for each sporting discipline, along with links for major

sporting events as these unfold. Antother feature are photo galleries, for Dantes

is of the opinion that photographs play a major role in the preservation of the

region’s history.

 

No island is given any special treatment for it is a Caribbean project, aimed at

marketing and promoting the Caribbean sports product, encouraging Caribbean

unity in the process.

The two Saint Lucians are hopeful that advantage will be taken of

www.sportcaraibe.net by all members of the Caribbean’s sporting fraternity,

“towards working together in the interest of the islands we love, the region we

deeply care for, and the efforts of the people we strive to promote on the

international stage.”