By Neto Baptiste
Two multipurpose sports facilities and rigorous sports programmes are just some of the plans in the pipeline for the St John’s City South constituency should United Progressive Party (UPP) candidate for that area, Franz DeFreitas, succeed at the polls when general elections are held.
Speaking on the Good Morning Jojo Sports Show, DeFreitas outlined his ambitious plans for his constituents, revealing that two facilities will be erected in areas already identified.
“Down in Ovals, we are going repurpose the Ovals basketball court and put all our indoor sports facilities in there. We are going to build a four or five-storey building there, and it’s going to be all indoor sports and sports training happening at that centre. Sports like volleyball, basketball, netball, spinning and aerobics; swimming, martial arts, bodybuilding and other indoor sports, we’re going to have them inside there. We are going to have the first Olympic size swimming pool,” he said.
The aspiring Member of Parliament said also, that a facility will be constructed in another section of the constituency to cater for other sporting disciplines.
“Up in Belmont, we are going to carry all of the outdoor sports, and we are going to construct a mini stadium up there in Belmont that will hosts sports like football, cricket, baseball, track and field and various tennis courts, and that facility, we want it to house between 1500 and 2000 seats and we’d be able to put events there that are at least regional,” he said.
DeFreitas, a certified volleyball coach, acknowledged that raising the funding for the projects would be the biggest hurdle, but he believes that with all the right people involved, it is not impossible.
“I have, on my side, some of the biggest sports names, I want to suggest to you, in the world that come out of Ovals, and I am proposing to you as I sit down here that funding this will be easy once I am in the position to be a representative there. Sports is not hard to justify funding once you can turn over and produce for the investment that you have, but the problem is that people are wasting time around here as it relates to the development of sports,” he said.
The UPP candidate is seeking to dislodge sitting MP for the St John’s City South Constituency, Steadroy Benjamin.