In 2021, the Saint Lucia Boxing Association (SLBA) teamed up with a number of social partners to provide sporting equipment to the island’s sole penitentiary. The SLBA, along with Blackheart Productions, Rise Saint Lucia Inc., and other national sporting federations, donated gear for boxing, football, cricket, basketball, netball, and volleyball to the Bordelais Correctional Facility.
Along with similar donations to the Saint Lucia Boys Training Centre, and the creation of coaching programmes for those two institutions, this was the genesis of the programme coing Hands On Gloves, Not On Guns.
The initiative was the brainchild of SLBA president, David ‘Shakes’ Christopher, who says that in light of the growing prevalence of violent crime on island, social programmes and sporting interventions are more crucial than ever.
“Sports changes people lives,” he opined to St Lucia TIMES. “It’s one of the most effective tools in changing people’s lives. Keep them occupied, keep them focused. Give them a goal, give them a sense of purpose.
“And when we see people doing all kinds of things, investing money in certain areas to curb crime – it’s not rocket science. Sports is the way to go, because so long as you programme them in the sports, give them the belief, give them the attention, and channel them the right support, you’d be surprised to see the amount of Julien Alfreds and the amount of Daren Sammys and Levern Spencers you could create in this small little 238.
“But we don’t believe in sport. There’s only some of us believe in sport. But we have to believe so we could see the reality with sport.”
Christopher alluded to the fact that boxing in particular has served a corrective function for wayward youth, helping channel their anger and violent tendencies into more productive avenues. He suggested that a number of young men currently in the Saint Lucia boxing programme, with gyms in Castries and Vieux Fort, have been steered away from potential involvement in criminal activity.
But the boxing boss laments the fact that the Hands In Gloves programme has not been as continuous as he would have liked. He told St Lucia TIMES that the absence of consistent, qualified coaching has been an issue, along with leadership changes at the institutional level.
“The programme, as far as getting young people off the streets, getting people away from violence and so on, we got all this equipment from our [International Boxing Association] president up in Russia. We distributed equipment in all the different nooks and crannies, and we decided to use boxing as a tool to keep youths away from crime and violence, and channel the energy in something positive.
“We put equipment in the Boys Training Centre, and we are about to restart that programme. We have a new director up there right now, we are having conversation with her. She’s looking to restart our programme. The programme had come to a stop in the Bordelais Correctional Facility. Things happened, to slow it down, and then we are supposed to restart.
“But we are still at that hallmark where we can get going with the Bordelais Correctional Facility, we are in Soufriere, we are in Choiseul, we are just trying to spread. We put some equipment in some what people would call troubled areas, we call them unfortunate areas. We put equipment in some of those areas, like Bruceville, and we are about to piut some bags in Grass Street, after conversation with some of the community leaders inside there.”
Christopher is confident that the boxing programme is growing nicely, and achieving its goals. He is resolute in his stance that being able to get things going at BTC and Bordelais would be a massive boost. And with a new Sports For Life partnership getting underway shortly in Vieux Fort, including Dr Stephen King, Joseph ‘Reds’ Perreira, and the Saint Lucia Athletics Association, Christopher is adamant that investment in sports is the best way to reduce criminality.
(TF)
Great initiative – but you also need to address their upbringing/the home from where these traits and habits are birth in the first place as well as where the individuals still reside. Some parents need serious intervention for they were kids having kids lacking in parenting skills themselves, and they cycle of reproduction continues. Godspeed
When the educational sectors fails sports often become the fall back scenario. Government needs to take a page from guyana, Jamaica, Barbados Trinidad with regards to sports. They are playing stupid games here because you know why. If sports become on the same par the sportsman or women will become a weapon against the politician. Sammy, Charles who lives on island can only do so much iconically. Do we really have a ministry of sports functioning here? It is run by a bunch of soup drinkers. They are too many loop holes in the system.
While I agree that sports is a way to get people away from crime and violence, you must also address the issue where many people who partake in sports see no future in it….in essence sports don’t pay as it stands in Saint Lucia….its only the few and mind you, the rare few who make it internationally and benefit from the athleticism. If you want people to get into sports….make all sporting activity have a goal where people can turn pro and make a living out of it… otherwise it’s just playing sports on a weekend to burn some sweat… Secondly, the government must make all sport a national pastime…take for instance, in Barbados every weekend there is a cricket match somewhere on the island… whether it’s just for fun or for prizes….in Saint Lucia, we don’t have that culture…. sporting events should become ubiquitous with Saint Lucia. Where every week or weekend there is some sporting activity to cater for the various tastes….what about community boat racing, single skulls, double skulls, triple skulls etc etc…what about teaching that youth to sail using the wind…, we have a beautiful long harbour in Castries why isn’t It being used to host boat racing events when there are no cruise ships….I am sure they will say due to international regulations, the port must meet certain security criteria in order to meet international cruise standards so we can’t use it for hosting boat races….just saying…the Vieux Fort stadium is now a hospital, when it should have been a place for sporting events….talk about a waste of space…there is so much that can be done to make Saint Lucia better….one big problem…we have vision less politicians