Sports Integrating the Caribbean

The idea of integration suggests unity and teamwork. The term integration means
“to bring or come into equal membership”. In the West Indies, sport has played an
important role in how the people have come to experience a sense of regionalism
and nationalism. Sport is important in this regard as it plays a significant role in
shaping and reflecting cultural values; it helps to define national and spatial
identities; and it provides heroes who capture the imagination and adulation of a
nation. For a region in which the majority of the population has endured centuries
of marginalization and oppression, sport was one of the first areas in which they
achieved excellence and global recognition. And it continues to be the case.
The first tangible expression of sport integration in the West Indies
came with the formation of the first West Indies Cricket team in 1886, which
toured the United states and Canada. This team, was representative of the region's
white elite, who shared a cultural bond in cricket, but also business and familial
links across the region. Known colloquially as “The Windies” they were
administered by the West Indies Cricket Board ("WICB”). The West Indies cricket
team represents a sporting confederation of English-speaking Caribbean countries.
The WICB joined the sport's international ruling body, the Imperial Cricket
Council, in 1926, and played their first official international match, which in
cricket is called a Test, in 1928 with the team consisting of representatives from a
wide cross-section of the region. Because of this, the entire region began to
identify with the team. By the 1930s, the side represented the British colonies of
the West Indies Federation and British Guyana. The current side represents the now
independent states of Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada,
Guyana, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the
Grenadines and Trinidad and Tobago, and the British dependencies of Anguilla,
Montserrat and the British Virgin Islands along with the U.S. Virgin Islands and St.
Maarten.
Regional movement is a key to the experience of the region. Sport has been an
important medium for the movement and interaction of Caribbean peoples. Annual
competitions like the CARIFTA Games, the new Caribbean Premier League and
other regional cricket tournaments, the Caribbean Cup in football, are important
sources of regional movement, interaction and integration. Thus generating income
from sports-related sales and services. The multibillion-dollar industry in
sportswear and equipment fosters innovation and trade, and boosts foreign
exchange earnings. Staging sporting events, whether at grassroots, national or
international levels, can enrich the social and cultural fabric of communities,
making them more attractive locations for investors and tourists.

By participating in regional competitions many sportspersons in CARICOM

countries get their first exposure to another Caribbean territory when they travel
for sport. Thus, the opportunity to showcase their talents to a wider audience, at
even younger ages each year. While, respectively improving self-esteem and self-
confidence, encouraging discipline, teamwork, and a competitive spirit all
prerequisite requirements needed to excel to the international stage and creating a
career longevity in sport.