Officials of the Ministry of Youth Development and Sports express that the agency is investing an estimated EC $300,000 annually in its Elite and Emerging Athlete Program. The objective of the arrangementis tosupport the development of future sportspersons in Saint Lucia. Director of Sports Patrick Mathurin says the EEAP has established processes to identify young and promising athletic talent in St. Lucia.

Patrick Mathurin - Director of Sports, said: “Emerging athletes are athletes who in a sense have potential and the potential would have been identified by our coaches within the ministry, the coaches from the associations’ or maybe generally somebody from the outside like a scout for instance would have seen persons who are the potential to move on and there's a scientific way to do it. And that's as it's been said on the timing to process science.” 

Identifying sporting talent at a younger age is critical for the program’s success and athletes’development.

 “You would hardly find a sprinter at 21 years emerging. I mean, that's in terms of the Sprint and the life of the sprinter. That is something different, a volleyball player might be emerging at 18 years, at 17 at 16. The important thing for us is that the younger you get them the better it is for you, because you were able to train them in the correct habits of the sport. So often than not the emerging ones are the younger ones, we identify the talent at the younger age, the Junior stage. But as we move now in terms of older ones we go; we go beyond that," Mathurin said.

One of St. Lucia’s emerging athletes is 14-year-old Naomi London, who started running from the age of 7. Seen here wearing national colors on the track, her goals are set at the highest levels.

She said: 

“My dream is to go to the Youth Olympics and the Senior Olympics after and to make Saint Lucia proud. The first day I think I ran; I was like maybe seven and my coach saw the potential in me, and he just took me and started training me. And then I took it seriously because I saw that I could enhance the track and field, enhance my career, go far with it. Personally, I wanted to do cricket. But I saw more talent in track and field.”

Her coach revealed she is one of the fastest young sprinters on the island.

Claude Charlemagne, Youth Development and Sports Officer, said: From her primary school level, she has been the most outstanding athlete in St. Lucia, I cannot recall her ever getting a silver medal at any competition at her level to date a girl, as of the competition we had this year, she is the second fastest female in Saint Lucia at the moment, of course, with the discipline and commitment that this young lady has. I foresee within the next two to three years minimum, that she will be able to give St. Lucia a podium finish at the highest level. 

Dane Magloire, Sports Officerresponsible for the Elite and Emerging Athletes Program believes all students should be taught physical education at primary school level, which is a critical time to identify the talent to be nurtured into emerging athletes. With athlete commitment and dedicated coaching, eventually some will make it to the elite level.