The Brooklyn-based St. Vincent and the Grenadines United States of America Sports Association (SVG-USASA) will host its biennial general meeting to elect a new executive body on Saturday, Feb. 24.
The group said the meeting will commence at 4 pm, at the Friends of Crown Heights Educational Center, 671 Prospect Place, Brooklyn. The entire executive slate will be up for elections.
The current executive, headed by chairman Peter “Poski” Burke, includes Stella Boyea-Ashby (vice-chairperson); Alyson Seales (general secretary); Gailene Windsor (treasurer); and sport liaison officers Atiba Williams, Theo Marshall and David “Sky” Llewelyn.
The group said it was formed in 2015 “by an initiative of the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Diaspora Committee of New York, Inc.”
The mission of SVG-USA Sports Association is “to unite and support its members in the coordination and promotion of their common aims and interests, while conserving and respecting their rights and autonomy, and by collective action to contribute through sports to the development of St. Vincent and the Grenadines and the Vincentian Diaspora.
“The association’s aim is to stimulate, encourage and promote Diaspora sporting activities, lobby for the inclusion of Diaspora athletes on national teams and establish a Sports Fund to assist with financial support of the Vincentian Sports Fraternity,” the statement said.
Since its inception, SVG-USASA said it has been responsible for “managing and sponsoring various sporting teams (chiefly soccer and netball), creating a pipeline for track & field student-athletes to attend university, providing assistance to former national athletes, promoting sporting events, attracting sponsorship and establishing a Sports Hall of Fame at the Heritage Awards to recognize outstanding sporting icons.”
Burke will present a report just before the conduct of the Feb. 24 elections, the statement said.
Sherrill-Ann Mason-Haywood, newly-elected chairperson of the Brooklyn-based St. Vincent and the Grenadines Diaspora Committee of New York, is urging “all serious Vincentian sporting enthusiasts, coaches, players and administrators from all disciplines to come out to offer themselves for leadership.
“There are exciting times ahead for sports, and this is a unique opportunity to be a part of helping to revive the dominance of the Vincentian sporting community in the USA,” she said.
The new executive will serve for two years — 2018 to 2020.
