The Eastern Caribbean has a significant deficit in sports coaching expertise compared to other Caribbean territories, an issue The University of the West Indies Five Islands Campus (The UWI FIC) hopes to address through its newly established Academy of Sport.
While countries like Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago have demonstrated how a robust coaching infrastructure can elevate athletic performance on the world stage, the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) region has struggled to develop similar capacity.
By creating pathways for coaches to gain formal qualifications and professional development, The UWI FIC hopes to begin bridging this gap.
“What distinguishes Jamaica in the region is that they have high-quality coaches at all levels. What we have in the OECS is one or two good ones across the system,” The UWI FIC’s Principal Professor Justin Robinson explained during the recent Campus Council meeting. “What we need to do is create the critical mass of competent persons.”
This coaching disparity has long affected athletic development throughout the OECS, limiting opportunities for promising athletes and hampering regional performances in international competitions.
According to Robinson, the new Academy of Sport will be housed within the School of Health and Behavioural Sciences.
He also indicated that after the successful launch of the criminology programme for law enforcement officers, the Academy would be “the next area we want to focus our limited resources on”.
“There are a lot of people teaching PE, doing coaching, but the majority did not come through a traditional educational path,” he noted.
“The majority of them are also adults. They are working people; they’re not going to quit and come in to do a degree full-time,” he added.
The Academy’s approach will therefore mirror the flexible delivery model being implemented for the criminology programme, combining online learning with face-to-face instruction to accommodate working professionals.
This strategy will “upskill PE teachers, coaches and trainers across the OECS” without requiring them to leave their current positions.
The initiative forms part of The UWI FIC’s broader strategy of offering “career-focused programming” that addresses specific regional challenges.
