Merger announced for Youth and Sports in the NIA

NIA CHARLESTOWN NEVIS (SEPTEMBER 10, 2013) — Junior Minister responsible for Youth and Sports in the Nevis Island Administration (NIA) Hon. Hazel Brandy-Williams announced a merger of the two areas which took effect from September 1, 2013.

She made the public announcement while she was a guest on the Department of Information’s Inside Government, a series which highlights the work of the Ministers in the NIA aired on Nevis Television Channel 8 on September 09, 2013. According to Mrs. Brandy-Williams, the merger was one of a few new initiatives implemented under her watch.

“So far I have implemented a number of new initiatives. The first one that comes to mind is the merger of the Division of Youth and the Department of Sports. Initially, the Division of Youth came under the ambit of the Social Services Department. However, I have merged that Division with Sports and have made it one large department known as the Department of Youth and Sports. That took effect on the 1st of this month.

“They are now housed at Reliable Motors and so they are now in a new environment, a new facility which in my view will give them that impetus to work harder,” she said.

Meantime, the Youth and Sports Minister also disclosed that a new Track and Field Coach had been employed and would commence duties from September 15, 2013. Mrs. Brandy-Williams noted that the move would assist student athletes’ transition from primary school to both secondary and tertiary levels.

“I have also employed a new track and field coach. My idea for implementing such is that as you are aware you have the ‘Mini Olympics’ or what is known as the Inter-Primary School Sports which is one of the most spectacular activities on Nevis. However, when students would have passed through primary school, there is no structure that allows them to continue their track and field into the Secondary school level.

“So the contractual arrangement of having a coach to set up a programme for track and field is to assist students to transition into secondary and tertiary level so that they can continue their careers in track and field. In so doing at the end of the day we should have a well-rounded cadre of athletes who would be able to participate in a number of regional track and field events,” she explained.

Another initiative the Youth and Sports Minister spoke to was the establishment of a Physical Therapy Division.

“We have formed a new Division as well known as the Physiotherapy Division that comes under Sports. They will be responsible for all sporting injuries or dealing with athletes with sporting injuries and eventually we will roll out this service to the seniors who might have suffered a stroke and who are housebound,” she said.

The Minister also discussed two projects designed to enhance sports facilities on Nevis, one of which had already commenced.

“Presently there is a major project ongoing in Zion that is the restoration of the Zion cricket field. That field was home to the Eastons Cricket Club, a renowned cricket club who in the past trained cricketers who made it to the Nevis cricket team. That field was left abandoned for some years and we felt that it was timely to have some work done on that field and so it is ongoing and we are hopeful that it would be completed by October.

“We’re also waiting and anticipating Goal Project #3. This is a FIFA funded project which is the establishment of a new facility for football. Goal Project #1 and 2 they are happening in St. Kitts and after those two are completed then Goal Project #3 will take place in Nevis. However, in the interim we are doing the preliminary work which is securing about 16 acres of land where we are proposing to put this facility,” she said.
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