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 youngsters started on Monday and has an enrollment of 12.

However, the funding Richard and his friends have scraped together can accommodate up to twenty-five.

Part of the camp involves community engagement, including a beach cleanup and team building with a barbecue on the beach.

Richard told St. Lucia Times that people he knows have chipped in to assist.

“When I tell them about the idea, some say, “Boy, you know, I’m kinda broke. But I could give at least some water. A few people say: ‘ I can’t give you a lot, but I’ll give you some cake, sandwiches, bananas’. That’s all it really takes,” he stated.

“What I really love about what we are doing is that it’s building a sense of community,” Richard stated.

Richard disclosed that the basketball court is in the Bruceville area, where residents come out to watch the children play and root for the youngsters.

“What I really want us to focus on are the small steps. Sometimes, we get caught up in the idea of changing the community by doing something big one time. But you start small. People see what you are doing and the energy then becomes contagious,” he stated.

“My hope is whatever we do in the community is like COVID-19 – eventually it becomes a pandemic in Vieux and it spreads to other communities – that idea of positive development and positive youth interactions,” Richard asserted.

The young teacher is also a youth leader, helping through the Vieux Fort Community Enhancement Organisation to introduce young people to seamoss cultivation and lobster farming.

Richard said although the project has hit a bump, work is continuing on it.