Article by David Harris

Former media and communications manager of Cricket West Indies (CWI) Philip Spooner is the sole cricket nominee for the inaugural Caribbean Association of National Committees (CANOC) Sports Awards.

He has been nominated in the Caribbean Distinguished Service which acknowledge persons for their dedication to sports in the Caribbean.

Spooner, a Barbadian worked with CWI for 16 years before leaving the organisation in January, he served as the global media manager for International Cricket Council (ICC) Men’s T20 World Cup which was jointly hosted by the West Indies and the United States in June; and also led the global trophy tour and ambassador programme with Sir Vivian Richards, Usain Bolt, and Chris Gayle.

Before joining CWI, Spooner was the sports editor of newspapers in Barbados and Bermuda.
The CANOC Awards which take place on October 19 in Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands, will honor the Caribbean best athletes, teams and sports leaders.

Article by David Harris

Road tennis originated in Barbados in the 1930s, the sport was created by the sons of working-class Barbadians who wanted to play lawn tennis but could not ventured onto the courts that were located the affluent urban predominantly neighborhoods like Belleville, George Street, and Strathclyde. 

The boys took  discarded tennis balls and began hitting them back and forth to each other with their hands on the roads in their neighborhood. 

One of those boys Lance Bynoe lived in Peterkins Land, St Michael, a stone’s throw away from Strathclyde,  Bynoe, an avid sportsman used his knowledge of table tennis and created a game that is liken to a combination of table tennis and lawn tennis. 

Bynoe developed the standard features of the game such as the size of court and scoring rules, and promoted road tennis in the United Kingdom, the United States, Trinidad, St Vincent, and St Lucia in the 1960s and 1970s. 

In the 1970s and 1980s road tennis tournaments were held on Christmas, Easter, and other holidays for small prizes, by then several well-known Barbadians were playing the sport. 

 Calypsonian the Mighty Gabby (The Most Honourable Anthony Carter) won a road tennis competition in 1970, Keith Griffith one of the best footballers that Barbados has produced was a champion in the 1970s, and the Malcolm Marshall the great West Indian fast bowler was an exponent of the game.   

Road started to lose steam in the 1990s before it was revived in the early part of this century, Dale Clarke the founder and chief executive officer of the Professional Road Tennis Association (PRTA) played a major role in the transformation of the game. 

The PRTA sought sponsorship to increase the prize money and set up seating around the courts at tournaments to give them a professional look. 

The winner of the inaugural Monarchs of the Courts tournament which was promoted by the PRTA in 2014 Antoine “Lil Man Daniel received $10,000. Two years later Mark “Venom” Griffith drove away with a car value valued at 65,000 after winning the third edition of the tournament. 

In 2017, Julian “Michael Jackson White and Sheldene Walrond the winners of the men’s and women’s titles respectively, won cars that were worth a combined value of $140,000. 

 This year, over 100 players (70 males and 36 females) participated in the Barbados Road Tennis Open tournament which was held under the auspices of the Ministry of Sports and members of the private sector. 

The tournament served off on July 28 at the Deighton Roach Tennis Facility in Bush Hall, and climaxed before a huge crowd at the Garfield Sobers Sports Complex in Wildey; the winner of the men’s title Mark “Venom” Griffith won $20,000 and Kim Holder the women’s champion received $20,000. 

 The losing finalists Dario Hinds and Sheldene Walrond got $15,000, and the losing semi- earned $5000, and the losing quarter-finalist earned $2000, with the round of eight losing players taking home $1000. 

Prize money of such magnitude for road tennis tournaments were unheard of before Clarke began promoting the sport over a decade ago. 

Clarke believes that road tennis has made a huge impact on the sports and cultural landscape of Barbados in the last 20 years. 

 “In a society that regards sports as mainly a recreation activity the marketing of road tennis has seen the rise above its poor man tennis tag, and become one of the more lucrative sports on the island. A court can be found in almost every neighborhood, and athletes from other sporting disciples are playing the game, some of them are competing in the various tournaments, and other are using it to keep fit. Not only has players participation increased but the fan base has grown rapidly as well”, Clarke told Advo Magazine. 

He said from a cultural perspective road tennis is the epitome of something that is truly Barbadian. 

 “If you examined modern Barbados, there are not many aspects of our culture remaining, road tennis and the Landship are two examples of the creativity of Barbadians. When you look into the origin of road tennis, it was created by the descendants of slaves who could   not afford to play lawn tennis because it was played in affluent neighborhoods that were of bounds to them; and they used their imagination and invented a game of their own. In my opinion, whenever road tennis is played, we are watching an exhibition of Barbadian culture”, Clarke said. 

Clarke explained the strategy he used convince the private sector buy into his vision to for the transformation of road tennis. 

“The BPRTA created a marketing strategy that convinced businesses to sponsor road tennis. Our strategy included rising the image of the sport, and we did that by outfitting the players and officials in uniforms. We also established strong media partnerships and made use of the technology and the social media platforms to attract the demographic that used those devices. The most important feature of the marketing plan was playing the tournaments at venues where road tennis had never been played. At that time, the tournaments were being held in impoverished neighborhoods; we decided to play the tournaments at Coverly, the Gymnasium and BET (Barbados External Telecommunications). We created an ambience at these that attracted all classes of the society which increased the popularity of the sport. This was an evolutionary period for the sport, because Barbadians had finally realized that road tennis was a game for everyone. The attractive prize money that we offered also played a role in increasing the popularity of the sport”, Clarke said. 

He is pleased with the tremendous growth of the 15 years and its expansion beyond Barbados; and believes it is critical for the future development of the sport that the coaches and officials must be certify and the equipment be standardized for the game to be accepted internationally. 

“Sports is a billion-dollar industry and once the officials and the coaches are certified, the players will have an opportunity to ply their trade globally.  We could create an opportunity where coaches and players can travel the world to teaching people to play road tennis; and the island could become a hub for the certification of road tennis with coaches and officials coming here to be certify annually in the courses that we are offering; similar to what the governing body of football FIFIA and FIBA the ruling body does he explained.   

“In a way Barbados will creating jobs, we will be creating jobs on a global scale which will be a boost for the island’s sports tourism. Picture this, we will host international road tournaments in Barbados that is being covered by the overseas media and generating foreign exchange from the business of road tennis”, he added. 

Clarke has not organized a road tennis tournament during past five years, but he has been promoting the sport in Europe, Africa, North America and throughout the Caribbean. 

“Road tennis is Barbados indigenous and I am willing to play a role in the development of sport, because I think it that it has the potential to bring enormous benefits to the country”, Clarke said.    

An Advo Magazine Exclusive by David Harris

Chief Executive Officer of Barbados Royals Jake Lush McCrum has described the team’s participation in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) as “a fantastic journey”. 

In July 2021, the Royals Sports Group owners of the Rajasthan Royals Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket franchise acquired a majority stake in the then Barbados Tridents, as a result of the acquisition, the Tridents were rebranded Barbados Royals. 

PL ‘ A FANTA“We have seen a fantastic journey for the Barbados Royals in the CPL so far; when we came on board in July 2021, our primary aim was to bring in a culture that reflects the Royals philosophy across all our teams and our focus on excellence both on and off the field. We have seen tremendous success with our women’s team who started with winning the first crown in 2022 and have not looked back since, securing back-to –back championships in the last two years. On the men’s side, we had a strong showing in 2022 when we went all the way up to the final, but last was not as per expectations. What has been satisfying though is the number of Royals players who have gone on to represent the West Indies across all formats. We have the examples of Obed McCoy, Alick Athanaze, and Nyeem Young who came into the system and have developed exceptionally over the past few years. Obed has represented all three of the Royals franchises, Ramon Simmonds has   played in the CPL and the SA20 for us, I am confident that there will be many more in the years to come. As much as we are focused on building a sustainable high-performance environment, we are also trying to grow the game through grassroots initiatives like the Barbados Royals Girls Club”, McCrum told Advo Magazine. 

He described last season as bittersweet for the Royals with the women’s team under captaincy of Hayley Matthews winning the Women Caribbean Premier League (WCPL) title and the men captained by Rovman Powell performing poorly.  

“There were some late departures from our men’s squad that hurt the balance of our team. We did witness some standout performances from the likes of Rakeem Cornwall and Alick, but we lacked consistency as a unit. We are confident that we will turn it around this season as we have been able to secure some really strong additions to the squad. We have continued to develop talent, push boundaries and work towards establishing ourselves as a dominant force in men’s and women CPL cricket”, he explained. 

McCrum said the Royals intended to win the men’s CPL title this year: “We are here to win and entertain, and with a second WCPL trophy under our belt, we are aiming to replicate this success in the men’s competition. We have a high-quality and explosive Caribbean core group that has been bolstered by strong overseas additions. It has been great to see how Alick and Nyeem have developed over the last few years, and Ramon is working hard to get back to his best. The Barbados leg of the CPL was great for us, we won three of the four matches played at Kensington Oval. We have stumbled a bit in Guyana, but I am hoping the team will return to its winning ways in the playoffs”. 

Late last year the Royals joined Bat for A Chance launched the Barbados Royals Girls Cricket Club initiative encouraging girls between the ages of six to 14 to play cricket, and according to McCrum, grassroots programs are extremely important to his organization. 

“At the Royals Sports Group, our purpose is to transform society. Grassroots initiatives are a key pillar for us. The Barbados Royals Girls Cricket Club is something we are extremely proud of because of our commitment to making an on the society with cricket at the centre of change. We are also committed to growing the game, especially for young girls. We want to create pathways for the next generation of cricketers and to make the sport accessible and fun from a young age. Through initiatives like these we hope to inspire more young girls to take up the sports, fostering the next wave of talent not just for the Royals, but for Barbados and the West Indies. It is crucial that we play our part in empowering these girls and giving them opportunities to develop”, the CEO said.  

He disclosed that the Royals Sports Group are always looking for ways to deepen their engagement with the local community and to continue their involvement at the grassroots level. 

“We are exploring more initiatives that focus on youth development for both girls and boys. We are providing technical expertise for the development of the High-Performance Centre at Kensington Oval which is a great initiative from KOMI toward building a high-performance culture. We are also keen to build on our existing partnerships, such as the one with Bat for a Chance, to deliver meaningful social impact through the sport”, McCrum said. 

“On a broader level, we are working closely with our principal sponsor Invest Barbados, and our partner Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc (BTMI) to ensure that cricket serves as a platform to drive economic and cultural connections globally, bringing more visibility to the island’s opportunity and attracting tourism. With Invest Barbados as our principal sponsor, we are excited to leverage the global reach of the Royals brand to promote Barbados as a prime destination for business and investment”, he added. 

McCrum said that cricket has a unique ability to bring people together and through their networks in markets such as India, the United Kingdom, and the United Arab Emirates they can create opportunities to showcase the potential of Barbados beyond sports.  

“We are committed to being ambassadors for Barbados on the global stage, and if that means facilitating new business ventures or creating connections that benefit the island economically, we are all for it. Our partnership extends beyond cricket, it’s about leveraging the sports to promote Barbados Internationally and create opportunities for the island”, McCrum explained. 

He lauded the government and the Barbados Cricket Association (BCA) for the support they have given the Royals in the past three years. 

“We are incredibly grateful to the government of Barbados and the BCA for the huge amount of support they continue to provide to us. They share our vision of not only making the Royals successful on the field but also contributing to the growth of cricket and the economy in Barbados at every level. Our relationship is based on mutual respect, and are constantly looking at ways we can collaborate for the betterment of the sport and the nation”, McCrum said.