St James Sec rugby girls team reaping rewards

Pateia Paul scored two tries while Jade Husbands got the other for St James while Arissa Romany got the lone try for Bishop ‘B’ team. In the sport of rugby, a try is worth five points.

The 18-year-old Husbands admitted that she receives help from knowledgeable persons, in the rugby fraternity.

“I get help from the coach of Caribs youth (team) Don Sucre,” said Husbands, during a recent interview. “There is help from other youth developers — Marcus Daniel, Joshua Sylvester, Malika Barclay. They all put something into development of St James (team).” Ironically, Husbands was a student of Bishop Anstey (2010- 2015), but she took a year off from studies before joining St James Secondary (in 2016) to pursue her Advanced Level studies.

“I first started playing with Bishop (Anstey) when I was in Form Three,” said Husbands. “I began coaching Bishop Anstey but then Don decided to give me my own (position at) St James (upon joining the school in Lower Six). He wanted me to extend and see how far I’ll reach in development, in terms of a coach.” “There were coaching seminars that I attended and the rules book would be read,” she added. “So I had a better understanding in terms of the coaching aspect.” Sucre is a Youth Development Officer at the Trinidad and Tobago Rugby Football Union (TTRFU) and is primarily responsible for introducing rugby, as well as establishing coaching responsibilities, at various schools in the Port-of-Spain region.

In the School Girls Rugby League, he is closely affiliated with Bishop Anstey (who had two teams in this year’s competition, an ‘A’ and a ‘B’ squad), having given Husbands a free reign at St James Secondary.

Husbands have the additional pressure of being the team’s coach, but she admitted that the combined portfolios (being a player/coach) works for the benefit for the team, instead of a hindrance.

“It wasn’t tough at all to teach them because they came with the enthusiasm to learn,” she said. “It was a joyful experience. When you would explain something, they would ask on the spot, say they don’t understand instead of going to do something incorrectly.

“They are a very good bunch of girls to coach,” she added.

The squad comprises players between the ages of 14-18 and have been together for the past two years.

When she is not on the training field at St James, Husbands is hard at studies, as she is pursuing Environmental Science, Literature and MOB (Management of Business).

The teaching staff at St James were understandably elated and delighted with the team’s success, including Physical Education teacher Tanya Darmanie.

“I’m proud of them and I’m very glad for them,” Darmanie said. “The captain (Alicia Worrell) in particular keeps me and a few of the other teachers updated with what’s happening with the team. “They really stuck with the programme,” she added. “They worked really hard for it.” Darmanie pointed out sports is given high priority at the school, with a number of past pupils offering their services to the new crop of St James Secondary students.

“In the last few years we’ve been pretty lucky that we’ve had some past students who are athletes (in) various sports, who have come back to the school and said ‘okay we want to bring this sport back to the school’.

“The school used to have a lot of sport and I think things (sort of) died down for a while,” continued Darmanie. “The students really wanted to bring it back to life so they came to me.

“In terms of rugby, Don Sucre is the one who has really stuck with the programme.” Darmanie stated that Sucre (a past St James Secondary student), and a fellow coach, would introduce the sport to the students during a few Physical Education sessions, and the ones who are keen to learn the game will receive additional training.

“That’s what we’ve been doing in the last few years with several sports actually,” Darmanie said.

“And that’s how we’ve been able to build teams in the school.” She is hopeful that the achievements of the rugby team will serve to foster more student-athletes at the school.

As far as honouring the students for their success, Darmanie admitted, “anything that we do for them would have to be next term because of the timing. But what we’ll normally do is announce it at Assembly to make sure that the students are aware of it, and when we have our Achievement Day, we’ll recognise all our athletes.” The brainchild of the Secondary School Girls Rugby League is former national player and current North America Caribbean Rugby Association (NACRA) project manager Kwanieze John.

Describing the 2017 season as successful, John expressed her gratitude to the media, the parents and the volunteers for their respective inputs.

John also lauded the work of Kafia Sylvester, a volunteer from the University of Trinidad and Tobago (UTT). “She called us and said she wanted to volunteer,” said John. “She took the management of the League and ran with it basically. So we’re getting (people) from outside the rugby fraternity to get involved. That signals that we’re doing something right and as we develop as a League, we’re looking forward to continued support.” With St James emerging victorious this season, John is looking forward to the sport, particularly at the school girls level, expanding to all corners of the nation.

“The League is a developmental league,” she admitted. “It really serves as an opportunity to increase the awareness of the game as we get more girls and women involved in the sport.” John noted, “at the moment we’re just in Port-of-Spain because that’s where the manpower and the expertise are based at this point in time. We have been in discussion with the Ministry of Education to get more teachers (and) people involved in delivering the game. We’re still working on that. That is a vision we have for the sport.”