Maple: 75 years and still going strong

The Maple Netball Club has withstood the test of time, and will later this year, mark the seventy- fifth year since its formation in 1951.

Responsible for the durability of the Maple Netball Club has been the continuity in leadership and holding firm to their motto: “Discipline and Development”.

When the club started 75 years ago, records show that Vilna Cox served as President.

She, along with Sydney Morris, Sylvia Wilson-Da Silva, Joyce Maloney- Frank, Marlene Wilson-Arthur, Thelma Brown, Noreen Simon and Joyce Niles, served as the pillars of what is today an institution.

They were followed by Hermina Cambridge, Peggy Ince- Hull, Joan Foster- Baynes and Thelma Foster, as others who took up the leadership mantle, ensuring the survival of the club.

The Foster sisters and Skiddy Francis are among the lead personnel who are battling time and changes in the social landscape but are keeping Maple’s ideals intact.
Together the trio has rendered a combined 140 years of service to Maple. Both Foster sisters joined Maple in 1976, with Francis doing so 10 years later, in 1986.
Corporate longevity also exists with the club, as Maple has been able to notch up an unmatched three decades of sponsorship through the Guinness and Vita malt brands.

These partnerships forged have led to Maple maintaining its status of one of the Netball forces in St Vincent and the Grenadines, rarely finishing outside the top three in national tournaments.

Additionally, the club has shown its prowess outside of St Vincent and the Grenadines, by registering titles at the OECS Club level, before that sub- regional championship faded into non- existence.

Moving from a single team up until the mid-1980s, Maple currently has three teams in the National Netball Tournament: Division One, Division Three and Division Four- all with a different sponsor.

The steady progress over time has resulted in Maple being a production line of national placers- even from its inception.

Some of the standout national players of yester-year included Gloria Ballantyne, Stella Boyea- Ashby, Jose Providence, Peggy Ince- Hull, Sylvia Wilson- Arthur, Joyce Maloney- Frank, Marilyn Browne.

Then came the lot of Thelma Foster, Joan Foster-Baynes, Elizabeth Caruth-Matthews, Leslie Kirby- Mc Kenzie, Michelle Francis, Roseclair Hall, Juliet Francis, Ingrid Foster- Theobalds, Agatha Matthews and Irma Fisher to name some of the others who followed the trailblazers.

Most recently are Antoine sisters- Kemeisha and Joseann, with the prospects of others being elevated to the national spotlight soon.

The club’s Diamond Anniversary will not go unnoticed; the Executive of the Maple Netball Club is planning a week of activities in acknowledgement of the significant milestone in Vincentian sporting history.