Dora Henry takes charge of St Lucia Athletics with bold vision for development

By November 29, 2024

Newly elected president of St Lucia Athletics, Dora Henry, has outlined an ambitious plan to build on the legacy established by Olympian Julien Alfred, whose historic achievements in 2024 have propelled St Lucia onto the global athletics stage. Henry was elected last weekend, succeeding Brendaline DesCartes, who stepped down due to other commitments.

 Henry inherits an organization riding high on Alfred’s unprecedented success, which included winning the World Indoor 60m title in Glasgow, the Olympic 100m gold medal in Paris, and the Diamond League 100m title in Zurich. Alfred, the first St Lucian to achieve these feats, was honored with a EC$1 million award, a statue, and the renaming of St Lucia’s main highway in her name.

 “Some of the short-term goals would be to develop more grassroots programmes, even athlete development and support,” Henry said. “I know I have a huge task in my hand because of the success of the Olympic medals, everybody thinks it is possible so creating the avenues for our athletes to develop via workshops, camps just to maintain the momentum and even reviewing our athletes’ performances to identify our strengths and areas where we could improve.”

 

From left to right: Back row: PRO Jonathan Emmanuel, Secretary Wayne Benti, Treasurer Cornelius Breen. Front Row: Floor Representatives- Lisa Joseph, Laricia Laurent, Asst. Secretary Cornelia Ann Shirley Lubin, 2nd Vice President - Patrick Mathurin, President - Dora Henry

Henry is focused on strengthening grassroots programs, enhancing elite athlete development, and ensuring that young athletes in schools are better integrated into the sport through community engagement and targeted initiatives.

 “Again, a lot of community engagement, meet with our athletes, the young ones, develop programmes for them, promote athletics in our schools, launching tournaments. I have a lot to get done in the short term but taking things step by step, day by day,” she added.

 A key challenge Henry aims to address is the lack of certified infrastructure and sufficient resources for athletes on the island. “Our infrastructure and resources, we don’t have the best; our main stadium is currently not certified and is not in the best state. However, we have to continue to conduct our assessment of our facilities and some of our equipment.”

 Henry also plans to prioritize coaching education, an area she feels is critical for long-term athlete development. “As we speak, we do not have a large pool of qualified coaches. It has been my desire to push for the education of our coaches. It is our hope to push our coaches to educate themselves, get the training opportunities so they can do better with training our athletes. So, for sure education and training is top on our mandate.”

 

First Vice President Makeba Alcide

To achieve her goals, Henry is committed to collaborating with key stakeholders, including the government and local communities. “One of our top priorities is to ensure that we have those connections with the government of St Lucia and Minister of Youth Development and Sports. Early on in our term we will be having those meetings with key stakeholders to ensure we get all that we plan to get those opportunities for our young athletes.”

 Henry believes the momentum generated by Alfred’s success provides an ideal foundation to implement these changes and raise the profile of athletics in St Lucia. With her leadership, she hopes to not only sustain but also expand the sport’s impact on the island and beyond.

 

 

 

Leighton Levy

Leighton Levy is a journalist with 28 years’ experience covering crime, entertainment, and sports. He joined the staff at SportsMax.TV as a content editor two years ago and is enjoying the experience of developing sports content and new ideas. At SportsMax.tv he is pursuing his true passion - sports.

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