Basseterre, St. Kitts – St. Kitts will welcome the region’s top junior beach volleyball talent as it hosts the 2024 Eastern Caribbean Volleyball Association (ECVA) U21 Beach Volleyball Championships from August 30 to September 1 at the Marriott Beach.
This high-profile event will bring together 13 teams from 11 countries, all vying for a coveted spot in the FIVB Beach Volleyball U21 World Championships, scheduled to be held in Georgia in July 2025. For the second consecutive year, St.
Kitts and Nevis has been selected as the host nation for this prestigious tournament. The event’s expansion, with an additional country participating this year, highlights the growing importance of beach volleyball across the Eastern Caribbean and ECVA’s ongoing efforts to foster youth athletic development.
As the host nation, St. Kitts and Nevis will proudly field three male and three female teams, benefiting from the privilege extended to the host country. These teams represent the nation’s commitment to providing its young athletes with opportunities to compete at an elite level while developing both their athletic and personal growth.
“We are excited to once again host this remarkable event and to offer our young athletes a platform to showcase and further develop their skills,” said ECVA President Glenn Quinlan. “We are confident that this experience will contribute not only to their sporting prowess but also to their overall growth as individuals.” Countries set to compete include Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, St.
Lucia, Grenada, the British Virgin Islands, St. Eustatius, Saba, Bermuda, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Anguilla, and host St. Kitts and Nevis. The event is made possible through the strong support of key partners, including the St.
Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla National Bank, the FIVB, NORCECA, and Olympic Solidarity via the St. Kitts and Nevis Olympic Committee (SKNOC). These organizations have collaborated closely to ensure the success of this event, which promises to showcase the best of junior beach volleyball in the Eastern Caribbean. – LOCAL NEWS –
there is no question that human beings have been and are contributing to global warming through three of our greatest curses,” Astaphan stated. He identified these curses as greed, ignorance, and selfishness, highlighting how they drive environmental degradation.
Astaphan warned that global warming is leading to more severe weather patterns, including more powerful hurricanes. “Global warming means that the polar ice caps will melt. Weather and climates will change. The elements of nature in which we live and other species live, thousands upon thousands of which have already been made extinct because of human interference, will be thrown into imbalance,” he explained.
He emphasized that warmer oceans act as “steroids for hurricanes,” leading to an increase in the number and severity of these natural disasters. He lamented the fact that, despite being the most intelligent creatures on the planet, humans are also the most destructive.
“We are too greedy, too selfish, too ignorant, and too foolish,” he remarked. Astaphan also pointed to the historical impact of the Industrial Revolution, noting that while it brought economic progress, it also set the stage for large-scale environmental damage.
“The bulk of the blame for global warming, at least from the human perspective, must go to countries and societies whose powerful players, aided and abetted by controlled and corrupt leaders, began in a major way to pollute the land, sea, and air of the planet when the Industrial Revolution started about 250 years ago,” he noted. He urged residents of St.
Kitts and Nevis, and people worldwide, to engage in better environmental practices, not just for themselves, but for future generations. “Are we prepared for the rest of 2024 and beyond? While it is good to be prepared for the hurricane, you have your medication, your water and so forth.
It is even better to engage in prevention in the form of good environmental practices. We have to do our share of the work, small as we are on the planet, because everybody has to do his or her part, whether you’re small or large.
All of us have a responsibility to leave a better place for our children than the one we found from our fathers and mothers,” Astaphan expressed, stressing the importance of collective action to preserve the planet. Front Page Image: Former government minister and well-known social commentator Dwyer Astaphan
