CARIBBEAN TODAY


SPORT


r6ww -arbbentda.com


T&T star joins Miami professional soccer club Caribbean legends for U.S.

 GORDON WILLIAMS you are competing, once you loss to England due to suspen-
 are fit and once you're doing sion, and returned against Cricket Hall of Fame


MIAMI, Florida Miami EC.
has expanded its core of
Caribbean players, adding
Trinidad and Tobago World
Cup defender Avery John to
its United Soccer Leagues
(USL) roster.
 John, a key member of the
"Soca Warriors" who made an
historic appearance at the
game's showpiece event in 2006
in Germany, joined Jamaican
attackers Sean Fraser and Sean
Barrett, and Haitian defender
Stephane Guillaume at the
USL club last month.
 The 32-year-old signed
with the South Florida-based
team last month after failing
to agree to contract terms
with his former club New
England Revolution of higher
rated Major League Soccer.
He played for the Revolution
from 2004-2007, appearing in
the MLS finals.
 However, John told
Caribbean Today that the
drop in professional level
would not dampen his enthu-
siasm for the game nor his bid
to return to the "Soca
Warriors" squad in time for
the World Cup 2010 qualifiers,
which begin this month.
 "It doesn't affect much,"
said the man who has repre-
sented T&T more than 50
times.
 "At the end of the day,
wherever you are playing, it
could be the MLS, it could be
the USL it could be the
English first, second, third
division, it could be some-
where else in the world once


what is needed to be on the
national team and competing

7AA1

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week in week out, you should
earn a (national) call."

IMPACT
 John's presence appeared
to make an almost immediate
with Miami EC., which had
struggled early this season
under new coach Zinho, who
was a member of Brazil's win-
ning 1994 World Cup team and
up to last season played for the
USL club. Although Miami
EC. lost its first game with
John, the team rebounded to
record two consecutive shutouts
with him at central defense its
first of the season in a win
and a draw later in May.
 John is refusing to rest on
the laurels of his World Cup
success, where he played
against Sweden in a surprising
draw with the European pow-
erhouse team, missed out in a


Paraguay, another Tl& loss.
 Both coach and player


have put a positive spin on
John's arrival at Miami EC.
 "He has experience and
he has leadership," Zinho
described John's attributes to
Caribbean Today. "He has the
World Cup experience and so
he knows how things should
be done at the back."
 John, meanwhile, said he
is still cognizant of the fact
that he is also representing the
region, no matter what level
he is playing.
 "Always, everytime I step
on the pitch anywhere I go, I
know I represent Trinidad, I
represent the Caribbean," he
said.

Gordon Williams is Caribbean
Today's managing editor.
0


 NELSON KING

HARTFORD, Connecticut -
Former star West Indies open-
ing batsmen Gordon Greenidge
and Desmond Haynes will be
inducted into the United States
Cricket Hall of Fame, organiz-
ers say.
 The Hartford, Connecticut-
based U.S. Cricket Hall of
Fame said last month the
Caribbean legends will be
bestowed the honor on Sept. 20
at the Marriott Hotel, down-
town Hartford.
 The other nominees are
Florida cricket administrator,
Barbadian Jeff Miller, co-
founder of
Lucas
Sports
Club in
New York ,
Jamaican
Mascelles
Bailey, l '
and
Guyanese 
Mohamed f F
Baksh, a .' ..1A
m e m b e r .;  : "m" "
of the I
West
Indies Haynes
Cricket
Umpires' Training and
Examination Committee.
 Greenidge, one half of
the West Indies' prolific open-
ing partnership with Haynes,
began his career in 1974
against India and continued to
play international cricket until
1991. He played in 108 Test


r


matches and scored 7,558 runs
with 19 centuries.
 Fellow Barbadian Haynes
 was Wisden Cricketer of the
 Year in 1991. Haynes formed a
 formidable partnership with
 Greenidge, "which was inte-
 gral to the success of the West
 Indies team in the 1980s", the
 statement said. Haynes com-
 piled a 7,487 runs in 116 Test
 matches at an average of 42.29.
 The
 organizers
 said
 Miller,
 who began
 his cricket
 career as a
 S youngster
 in his
 native
 e, Barbados,
 estab-
 lished
 himself in
 the U.S.
 both as a
reenidge player and
 an admin-
 istrator. Bailey was co-founder
 of The Bankers Athletic
 Cricket League in New York in
 1971. Baksh, from an early age,
 was involved with sports at
 various levels, serving on a
 number of community organi-
 zations and regional cricket
 boards. For a number of years,
 he was a member of the West
 Indies Cricket Umpires'
 Training Examination
 Committee.
 0


Miami celebrates Caribbean culture at Little Haiti Soccer Park


MIAMI The City of Miami
last month celebrated the
grand opening of the Little
Haiti Soccer Park.
 The South Florida park
was also renamed after the
late Emmanuel "Manno"
Sanon, one of Haiti's most cel-
ebrated soccer players, during
the event.
 To kick off the ,k.1rai ii, i,
Miami City Commissioner
Michelle Spence-Jones joined
Mayor Manny Diaz and other
elected officials from the City of
Miami, Miami Dade County,
North Miami, North Miami
Beach and members of the Little
Haiti community in a day-long
event. The celebration included
the Toussaint L'Ouverture
Parade, three soccer matches
that included local Haitian teams
and L'Athletique D' Haiti (from
Haiti) and a Haitian festival with
Caribbean music and live bands.

VISION
 Spence-Jones said the late
Commissioner Arthur E.
Teele first introduced the idea


 Photograph by J. Perez, Office of Communications, City of Miami.
Soccer matches highlighted the opening of the new park in Little Haiti.


for a "first-class full/service-
park" park in Little Haiti five
or six years ago.
 "His vision included a
facility that exemplifies and
captures the Haitian culture,
rich with the colors of the
Caribbean," she said. "The
recreational and cultural com-
ponents of the park will pro-
vide the Little Haiti, Edison,
Little River, Buena Vista, and
Lemon City residents with a
park that they can truly call
their own."
 The Little Haiti Soccer
Park and Cultural Complex is
the first state-of-the-art-facili-
ty in the Little Haiti/Lemon
City area. The soccer park
includes both a practice field
and a playing field, covered
seating for 580 people, a tot
lot with a jungle gym under a
canopy, and a children's water
splash park.
 Commissioner Spence-
Jones's vision is to eventually
create a soccer exchange pro-
gram between the City of Miami
and L'Athletique D' Haiti.


 "What we want to bring
to the park is a cultural
exchange program where kids
from Little Haiti and Haiti
can interact and communicate
with each other," she said.
 To ensure that the new
park incorporates the
Haitian/Caribbean culture, the
City of Miami has created com-
mittees that will provide input
on the cultural and recreational
components of the park and
the cultural complex. In addi-
tion, the office Spence-Jones
has created partnerships with
the city of Jacmel and Port-au-
Prince Haiti.
 The Little Haiti Soccer
Park and Cultural Complex is
funded by both the City of
Miami and Miami Dade
County. The total project cost
approximately $36.9 million,
of which the City of Miami
contributed $29.6 million and
Miami Dade County con-
tributed $7.3 million.
0


June 2008