The successful completion of the One Day International Match in St. Kitts on Tuesday, was a very significant occasion to the future development of the Federation.
The match was a world-class event, which required a considerable amount of resources.
Little St. Kitts, a speck on the world map, became a golden spectacle in the world-sporting arena.
Congratulations to the government, the local organizing committee and of course to the fans who came out by the thousands and showed the world what home-advantage is.
Indeed, the match was an extremely significant event to the country, specifically in the world-wide marketing of the Federation, as a tourist destination.
Cricket fans all over the world were not just looking at cricket images, but also images of our mountains, coastline and of the people.
India has a population of more than a billion people, and most likely more than half of that population had nothing but St. Kitts and cricket on their minds on Tuesday.
The match was also significant in the way we as people came together with other Caribbean people to cheer the West Indies on. We laughed with them, joked with them and at the end of the match celebrated with them. We became one people, and some of us established long lasting friendships.
Opening our country and our hearts to other Caribbean people can bring nothing but benefits to the nation. Those people will surely come back again.
Also, the successful completion of the match shows that the future is bright for the Federation. We rose up to the occasion and delivered. We provided for the media, the visitors and the players. To pull of such an event shows the incredible potential of our locals.
We must ride this momentum into other sports like netball, basketball and football. Our athletes must now realize that, as Kim Collins has showed us time and time again, the potential to succeed on a world-wide level is there. We just have to open our eyes, work hard and just believe.
Local sports associations now must feel energized to work even harder to bring out the best in our athletes. Facilities need to be improved, people need to be trained and attitudes need to be changed for the greater good of all sports.
Let us ride this wave of achievement and squeeze every ounce of motivation from it, to further develop our country as a home of champions.
