Cave Hill Campus hopeful of strong showing at UWI Games in Trinidad

The 150 member Cave Hill Campus squad is fully geared up and ready to begin competition for this year’s UWI Games in Trinidad and Tobago.

The games, returning for the first time since 2019 following pandemic-related postponements, will run from May 21 to 29 and feature more than 575 student-athletes from all five UWI campuses — Cave Hill, Global, Mona, St Augustine, and, for the first time, Five Islands.

A total of 96 events will be contested across several sporting disciplines, including track and field, swimming, basketball, netball, volleyball, lawn tennis, table tennis, football, cricket and hockey.

Minister of Sport Charles Griffith was on hand at the Grantley Adams International Airport on Thursday night for the team’s departure.

“From what I am seeing here they seem very hyped as it pertains to these campus games and I expect them to mimic what happened with the CARIFTA team and come back on top. The coaches are all in place and they have been prepared very well, so I can only expect the very best from Cave Hill,” he said.

Speaking to Barbados TODAY from Trinidad, team manager Aundrea Wharton, said the first batch of Barbadians would be in action early on Saturday morning.

“We actually start off with table tennis at eight and then if I’m not mistaken, we have a netball fixture and definitely football. The hockey team is also in action tomorrow, as well as the cricket unit,” he explained.

Wharton said UWI Cave Hill will be aiming to improve on its performance from the 2019 edition of the Games. 

“Well we would have placed second overall in 2019, the last time the games were held, before we were on pause owing to the COVID pandemic. These games represent a fresh start for the University of the West Indies as a whole, under the theme reunited, reignited and ready.”

“So we’ve brought a new bunch down to these games and for 99 per cent of the athletes, it will be their first experience. The last time these games were held, some of these athletes were now completing the 11 plus, so it’s a bit of a culture shift for them,” he said.

Wharton added that he is optimistic about the team’s chances, given the strength of the squad, which includes a number of junior and senior national players competing across several disciplines. 

“Naturally we have a very strong cricketing core and our female volleyball unit is very strong as well. This also the case with our male hockey unit which is again, very strong. We are looking to get key performances, especially out of those units.”

“Our netball cohort again includes loads of senior nationals and junior nationals in that setup as well, so across all these disciplines, we are well represented,” he concluded.

(KH)