The P’s affected WISG 2025

Yes, St Vincent and the Grenadines has once again placed last in the Canadian Bank Note (CBN) Winlott Inc. Windward Islands Schools’ Games (WISG).

When the 2025 edition closed off last Saturday, August 2, as host, St Vincent and the Grenadines mustered the least number of points-19.

To the good, St Vincent and the Grenadines took first places in Netball and Football, but suffered the indignity of last places in Track and Field, Male and Female Volleyball, as well as Male and Female Basketball.

The St Vincent and the Grenadines performance in 2025, thus replicated the positions attained in the previous two editions, in 2019 and 2023, hence completing a hat trick.

As expected, Grenada trumped the multi- discipline games on 39 points ahead of Dominica’s 29, and 23 registered by third place- Saint Lucia.

Since placing joint first with Saint Lucia in 2009 and going alone as winners in 2010, St Vincent and the Grenadines is yet to celebrate a title. Second place in 2014 and 2018(shared) were the next best showings. Their third place position in 2011, 2012(joint) and 2016, and a last place in 2017, complete the tale. Assessing these truths and applying deeper analyses of the Vincentian contingent’s efforts and placings over the period of review have revealed some unwanted ingredients that are gnawing away at the core of sports, especially among out students.

This column will assert without fear of contradiction, that St Vincent and the Grenadines’ patented last place at the most recent Windward Islands Schools’ Games and the overall execution of the event, must be attributed to preparation, planning, politics, personality, and professionalism. From the get-go, we seemed ill-prepared for an event that the country was set to host in 2024. Spared because of the passage of Hurricane Beryl on July 1, 2024, still did not enhance our preparation as worthy host. Among the revelations was the late selection of teams that severely affected the psyche of the student- athletes.

This unwarranted scenario was compounded by a party-political bias as it was clearly pronounced that execution of the Games was primarily for personnel who were supportive of the government apparatus of the day.

Effectively, persons who did not tow the line, but possessed exceptional administrative skill-sets were marginalized, leaving St Vincent and the Grenadines lurched and achieving a below standard 2025 WISG.

The faux pas of having to shift the Basketball discipline from the Calliaqua Hard Court to the New Montrose Basketball facility is unforgiving. After touting that the Calliaqua venue was ready and politically scheduled, eggs were thrown in the faces of the Local Organising Committee, when on Sunday, July 27, the scheduled matches and entire Basketball discipline were reset to the New Montrose venue.

But internally though, the Games suffered as the inter-personal relationship among key members of the Division of Sports and Physical Education was less than acceptable, and professionalism was at its lowest ebb. Such amateurish display by some of our better paid employees in the national workforce is untenable and worked against the smooth and effective execution of the 2025 WISG.

Relatedly, the Local Organising Committee seem not to have the full support from the State as there were instances in which state-associated institutions evidently worked against the greater good of the Games.

This came to the fore, as the much advertised “Chill Tuesday,” was fraught with shortfalls, such as tents and seating at the Chilli Hard Court.

Hopefully, the “We Thing” approach was not the cause of the apparent actions of agencies outside the direct organizational framework of the Games. Nevertheless, as we reflect and look in the rear-view mirror of the 2025 WISG, congratulations must go out to those who tried to make the event the best possible within the circumstances.

Kudos to both the Netball and Football outfits for topping their respective disciplines, and commiseration to the others who made an effort to do better.

Unfortunately, it was not all the fault of the 60 student- athletes who made the final cut for the St Vincent and the Grenadines team.

They were the ones who were placed in the sporting ambassadorial positions, however, their demise and inevitable last place was fully crafted prior to July, 26, 2025, when the Games officially got going.

Hopefully, the gatekeepers of the St Vincent and the Grenadines team will look critically at the 2025 performance and make the necessary adjustments for the 2026 WISG, slated for Saint Lucia. Notably, with all things being equal, the WISG should return to these shores in 2029, and a better executed event should, likewise, be high priority.

The column does not expect perfection, but proper planning, preparation and above all, professionalism.