By Charminae George
With the aid of a stepladder and cheers from her fellow villagers, Karen Joseph, world-renowned netball athlete and coach, unveiled her eponymous street sign on Tuesday afternoon.
The reflective blue and white sign, situated on Seatons main road, stands on the street where Joseph resides and is testament to the level of dedication she has contributed to the development of netball in Antigua and Barbuda.
“I’m really overjoyed. It’s a good feeling inside. I must say from this I realised that my hard work paid off and I must say that my village has been behind me for years,” she told Observer.
The Seatons resident also took the opportunity to share a word of encouragement to upcoming athletes in the community.
“I just want to encourage the young upcoming netballers, sports personnel in the community to strive for excellence; we can get there, and with hard work and dedication you can make it,” she stated.
According to Beverly Hector-James, President of the Seatons and Glanvilles (SeaGlans) Development Organisation, the initiative has been in the pipeline since 2016.
James said that she was happy to see the sign unveiling come to fruition and promised that many more will follow.
“I feel as though what we have done in the community has now set a precedent for things to happen. It is also an encouragement for others to follow in the footsteps of the great Karen Cynthia Joseph,” she said.
Hector-James also spoke about the organisation’s future plans.
“One of the first things we’ll want to look at, we have the football, netball and cricket fields that we want to try and fence. We also want to try and put some seating,” she shared.
Joseph, who was born and raised in Seatons, began playing netball at the age of 11. Four years later, she was chosen for the senior national netball team. In 1990, she was selected for the West Indies team which toured London and the Caribbean.
Subsequently, she was named Antigua and Barbuda’s first Sportswoman of the Year in 1992, and served as the captain of the country’s national team from 1990 to 2003.
Next, she achieved the accolade of being ranked number two worldwide as a netball goal shooter in 2003.
Currently, Joseph is the president of the Antigua and Barbuda Netball Association, a sports tourism officer in the Ministry of Tourism, and coach of the country’s under 16, under 23 and senior netball teams.
