Vice-Chancellor’s Report
Faculty of Sport: Second Year of Existence The Faculty of Sport entered its second year in 2018–2019. The faculty spent the first year establishing regulations and modifying University ordinances to define itself, and the second year saw the start of academic programmes, bolstering existing programmes and spreading programmes across all campuses. New programmes for the following academic year were also formulated and passed through the scrutiny of the University’s quality control process. A Curriculum Development Specialist joined the Dean’s Office to guide this process. New Heads of Academies of Sport were appointed in two Academies. Mr. Kervin Jean was appointed Head of the Open Campus Academy of Sport, who came with a strong background in Sport Policy. Professor Emeritus Funso Aiyejina joined as acting Head of the St. Augustine Academy of Sport. His institutional knowledge has assisted immensely in shaping the structure of that Academy. On the playing field, the Faculty was instrumental in some historic events, especially in cricket. The Combined Campuses and Colleges (CCC) cricket team created history by winning the Regional 50 Over Competition. This was followed by victory in The UWI World Universities T20 Tournament, put on by the Faculty of Sport. The Faculty’s footballers and track and field athletes continued to perform well in local competitions, with many representing their countries internationally. All other sports showed improvements in standings in their respective competitions. The Faculty signed an MOU with
the Argentine Football Association through the Argentine Embassy in Barbados, which will allow the exchange of coaches and players. This MOU opens the door for a CCC Football team. Additionally, collaboration with coaches and player exchange would enhance offerings to our players and coaches. In the period under review, it was also agreed that Cricket West Indies (CWI) will offer its Level II coaching programmes through The UWI following the setting up of the syllabus and course delivery modules. This was previously executed by a partnership between CWI and the English Cricket Board. The Faculty commenced a fortnightly column in the Trinidad Guardian newspaper entitled “Sport Matters”. The Community Inclusion Project, aided by a grant from the CDB, allowed engagement of youth from the Cane Farm community of Trinidad and the August Town community of Jamaica. This pilot project exposed youngsters from 9 to 16 years to the values and ethics of sports. It counselled them to vocational opportunities in and around sport, as well as giving an opportunity to mingle and compete with some of the top sportsmen and sportswomen in the region. Another portion of the CDB grant was used to launch the Regional Emerging Athlete Development programme. National sporting organisations around the region nominated an athlete, from among whom three were selected for the programme. The athletes, accompanied by their
West Indies Cricketer, Lendl Simmons presents a delighted Community Inclusion Project participant with a token of appreciation.
coaches had extensive baseline medical and sports science testing done in Barbados, following which individualised programmes were forwarded to their coaches. The athletes will be retested in the next academic year to monitor their progress. The Faculty also launched the Pace Like Fire programme scouting fast bowlers. Testing was conducted in multiple sites in Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, St. Lucia, Barbados and Jamaica in which fast bowlers were invited to bowl balls, the speed of which was measured using a radar gun. The top twenty were then assessed by an expert panel of elite coaches, and were taken into a camp at Cave Hill for intensive baseline testing and programmes to enhance their bowling technique. The entire process was filmed by Flow Sports working in conjunction with UWI tv, and was aired as a multi-episode series on Flow Sports.
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