BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - THE St. Kitts-Nevis Table Tennis Association (SKNTTA) has elected a new executive, led by Troy Mills, to conduct its affairs for the next two years.
On Monday (Feb. 20), the body elected six of its eight executive members, all of whom were unopposed, at the St Kitts & Nevis Olympic Committee's (SKNOC) Conference Room.
Mills was elected President, Shakquan Hodge Vice President, Mechelle Liburd Secretary-General, Craig McDowell Treasurer, and Amelia Freeman and Tresha Wilkin as Floor Members
The Assistant Secretary-General and another Floor Member positions were left unfilled, and the five clubs present at the elections gave the executive a two-month window to have the positions filled.
Mills, in outlining his plans, has prioritised developing the grassroots programme and building on the successes of the past executive as a new paradigm for the sport in St. Kitts and Nevis.
But before that is done, he stated that an assessment would be undertaken to see the state of affairs of the body to determine the needs and challenges to plan for the way forward.
“Once we get those house cleaning matters out of the way we plan to hit the ground running, and one of the things that we want to really concentrate on is membership drive, getting clubs involved, especially in schools, churches, businesses, associations” noted Mills.
Declaring that he is not someone who believes in jumping and making immediate changes, Mills disclosed that four strategies would be undertaken, including keeping some of the initiatives would continue as they are, some would continue with some changes, some might be discontinued, and some new things might be introduced.
“All of that depends on the assessment of where table tennis is in St. Kitts and Nevis. A key factor that we want to work on as well is getting more table tennis involved in Nevis - everything is basically centered in St. Kitts…We want to get Nevis more involved in it and have more regular championships at the different age levels,” added Mills.
While expressing his excitement, the new President noted that they would have to begin meeting with the various stakeholders in the coming weeks to outline their plans for the sport.
In the area of junior development, Mills told SKNVibes Sports that sports in the school would be one of the key focus areas from them as they seek to work to develop the next generation of players through the grassroots programme.
He pointed out that another way for developing junior players would be having them compete on the regional circuit and participate in the Junior Cadet Tournament across the region.
Five clubs - In the Loop, Challengers Table Tennis Club, Sandy Point Table Tennis Club, Saddlers Table Tennis Clubs, Liamuiga Table Tennis Club - were present during the elections.
