The sport of Rugby in St Vincent and the Grenadines is said to be on a better footing.{{more}}

President of the St Vincent and the Grenadines Rugby Association Sophie Goddard and development officer of the North America and the Caribbean Rugby Association (NACRA) Scott Harland have both concurred that is indeed the case.

In an interview with SEARCHLIGHT last Saturday at the Media Centre at the Arnos Vale Playing Field, following the conclusion of a one- week course, Goddard said: “I am very satisfied with basically everybody that’s involved in it now, the whole executive; everybody is working together and trying to really be more recognised… We still have a long way to go in terms of developing it and getting it to more persons.”

Crunching the numbers, Goddard, who has been in the post for just over a year, noted, “In the past year, we have triple numbers and as I said, we have to get into rugby programmes; we are in seven primary schools. That’s one we are looking to continue and hopefully carry it to the secondary schools, because once the kids move up, it would be good to have the programme in place in the secondary schools too.”

Meanwhile, Harland expressed pleasure in the local coaches’ interest in moving the sport forward.

“We had done a number of courses here before; this time though, it was a good mix of people who are intent on coaching… We had quite a number of good coaches get much better and a number of people start to get interesting in coaching and get up to a good level…The reception was excellent from the players, the attendance was better than we had in many parts of the Caribbean for coaching,” Harland assessed.

Further reflecting on the course, Harland noted that it was enhanced by the presence of computers and Internet service, which he said aided immensely in his delivery of the material, as well as keeping the interest of the participants.

He added, “We recognise that in much of the world there are new advances in how we coach any sport, and there is advance in the game of Rugby and how we are trying to learn to be better in that game”.

During his one-week stint, Harland was involved in two certifications — one for persons relatively new to the sport, which earned them a level one certificate and a level two programme for coaches who have gone through the level one.

Covering other bases of rugby, Harland also gave introductory courses in refereeing and the marking of a rugby field. (RT)