BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – TESRIL NISBETT, Reginald ‘Reggie’ Douglas, Talissa Browne and Kim Collins have been named as the 2009 sportsmen and women of the year on St. Kitts-Nevis by WINN FM’s KFC Inside Edge radio sports programme.
The athletes were honoured at a special ceremony last evening (Mar. 8) at the Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant in downtown Basseterre, where they were celebrated by their peers and coaches for their outstanding accomplishments in the past year.
Four-peat Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) triathlon champion Douglas was the first to be awarded at the ceremony as he received the title of Nevis’ Sportsman of the Year.
President of the Nevis Cycle & Triathlon Club Winston Crooke outlined many of Douglas’ accomplishments in the 2009 season, including winning the OECS Triathlon title for a fourth straight year, taking the 2009 national time trial and road race titles, winning the Grenada Triathlon and representing the Federation at the World Championships in Switzerland among others.
“Of course, he doesn’t do it alone. He does have the backing of a very strong team, but they have to be helmed by a very strong captain and that Reggie Douglas has proved to be,” Crooke said.
The second award winner out of Nevis for the evening was the multi-talented Tesril Nisbett.
Speaking on Nisbett’s behalf was Hance Richards, Physical Trainer for many of the nation’s sporting teams. Richards outlined Nisbett’s top accomplishments from 2009, including being awarded Nevis’ best wicketkeeper in cricket, winning the bronze medal in the female U-20 Javelin at the St. Lucia Carifta Games and leading the national female U-20 football team to a tournament victory in the first round CFU qualification for the FIFA World Cup.
“I would like to thank God Almighty for awarding me the abilities and talents that I have to play these sports,” Nisbett said upon receiving her award. “I’d also like to thank Mr. Lester Morris and Hans Richards who have pushed me in many different ways to make me a better person. Also, Mr. Wakely Daniel, my track coach, and my father Mr. Eustace Nisbett, may he rest in peace. And I’d like to thank anyone else I forgot.”
The award for Sportswoman of the Year on St. Kitts went to one of the nation’s top netballers, Talissa Browne.
In the past year, Browne exhibited excellent leadership as a part of the various netball teams she helped comprise, including the U-23 St. Kitts team that won its very first OECS championship. At the tournament, which was held in Nevis, Browne was awarded MVP for St. Kitts, Best Defensive Player of the tournament and MVP of the tournament for her efforts.
St. Kitts national captain Michelle Liburd also noted that Browne won a joint award for Best Defensive Player in the local St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla National Bank League and the Best Defensive Player in the Coca-Cola U-23 Out of Season League.
Browne thanked the various members of the netball community and her family for continued support throughout the years as she humbly accepted the award.
The final award of the evening went to Kim Collins, who is the only person in the five year history of the Inside Edge Sports Awards to win the coveted prize three times.
Track and field coach and current Headmaster of the Saddlers Secondary School Stanley Knight said that the accomplishments of Collins on the track are great, but his impact measures well beyond the medal podium.
“We must look at more than just what Kim did in 2009, but what Kim has done for St. Kitts-Nevis over the length and breadth of his career.
“We very often look at the latest, but we often don’t look at the greatest, bearing in mind that Kim was the very first ever 100m gold medalist at the World Championships [from the Caribbean],” Knight said. “When we consider the Usain Bolts of today, we have to accept that Kim Collins opened the door for a Usain Bolt to come through.”
Collins stepped down from international athletics in 2009, but noted at last night’s ceremony that he still hopes in his lifetime to see someone step into his place and “take on the world” for St. Kitts-Nevis.
“To all of the awardees, I want to say very good job. Listening to what all of you have done, it is really amazing to see that we have so much talent here in the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis,” he added.
Additionally, the Royal St. Kitts Golf Club was named as the Sports Association of the Year after edging out the St. Kitts-Nevis Amateur Athletics Association and the St. Kitts-Nevis Football Association.
All of the awarded athletes received a Blackberry cellular phone compliment of Digicel, a full body massage and tour for two compliment of the St. Kitts Scenic Railway.
Numerous other prizes were donated by Tech Sperts, Nature’s Touch, Nisbett Plantation, Sea Trek, Rock Lobster, Sprat Net, Bobsy’s, Mount Nevis Marina Beach Club, Stone Walls, Ashburry’s, Serendipity, The Beach House, Blue Waters Safaris, Reggae Beach Bar and Grill, Legend’s Sports Bar Nevis, SWATCH, Sensational Plaza, Ottley’s Plantation, National Jewelry of St. Kitts and many others.
