By Neto Baptiste
Former national netballer and longtime sports administrator in her village, Old Road, Ruby Williams said her aim is to fully revive the sport in the village and hopefully field a team consisting mainly of Old Road residents.
Williams, who has worked as a coach within the country’s sports ministry for the past 36 years, said that although Old Road has managed to field a team in recent competitions put on by the national association, a large number of the players were recruited from outside of the village.
“They have a team that is always in the competition so we always participate in the competition. Everybody [the players] are not from Old Road but what I think it will take to bring it back fully into the village with all Old Road players is for me to go back because nobody is there coaching Old Road,” she said.
Williams, who is also founder and president of the Young Lions Football Club coming out of Old Road, said that once given the all clear by health officials, she is hoping to commence training sessions with a number of young potential players in the village.
“I go out at eight o’clock in the mornings and go to the school and help them out, so I brought a team back into the last tournament. What I am going to do now is go back into the community and start to do some coaching, as long as they [authorities] say that it is okay with them in the afternoons so that I could get everybody from the village,” she said. During her career, Williams represented the Old Road and Eagles netball teams while she also represented Antigua and Barbuda during some regional tournaments.
Ruby Williams.