SABA —The renovation of the Johan Cruyff Court in The Bottom started last week. The turf will be replaced, the field levelled and the back wall reenforced. Later this month, a delegation from Saba will be travelling to Curaçao for a sport competition organized by the Student Sport Federation Dutch Caribbean.
Contractor Saba Roads has been awarded the project for the complete overhaul of the Johan Cruyff Court. The old turf had been in place since the opening of the Johan Cruyff Court more than 10 years ago and needed urgent replacing. The new turf is of a better quality and, together with the levelling of the field, it will be a huge improvement for sports.
Added will be two lanes for running on the outer perimeter, with distance marks, and a volleyball court. The soccer court will be rotated and enlarged a bit, while the lines for baseball and softball remain in the same place. The wall in the back will be reenforced, and new signage put up with information about the rules and the use of the Cruyff Court.
Highly necessary
The funding for the renovation of the Cruyff Court comes from the Dutch Ministry of Public Health, Wellbeing and Sport (VWS). Commissioner of Sports Rolando Wilson thanked the Ministry for making the funding available. “I am very glad that the Cruyff Court is being renovated for it was highly necessary. The upgraded facility will surely benefit sports on Saba and be appreciated by everyone who uses our Cruyff Court regularly,” said Wilson.
The renovation is a joint effort of the Public Health Department and the Planning Bureau of the Public Entity Saba. The official reopening event with representatives of the Ministry and the Johan Cruyff Foundation will take place once the renovation is completed in a few weeks.
Sports delegation
A group of 30 persons from Saba, consisting of 24 athletes of the Saba Comprehensive School (SCS), four coaches and two coordinators, will travel to Curaçao from March 23 to 28 for a competition of the Student Sport Federation Dutch Caribbean. Teams from all six Dutch Caribbean islands will take part in this March 25-27 event hosted by Curaçao.
Saba will compete in Basketball, Indoor Soccer, and Track & Field. Teams that place in the top 3 of their sport will have the opportunity to compete in the regional ODUCC tournament which will take place in Santo Domingo this July. Funding for the trip to Curaçao comes from the Public Entity Saba, the Saba Comprehensive School and through fundraising by the athletes themselves.
Policy in progress
A so-called ‘Sports Hall’ was held on Monday evening, March 7, with stakeholders and everyone involved in sports. During the well-attended event, participants talked about the current status of sports on Saba and the wishes, needs and plans for sports in the future. The input from the ‘Sports Hall’ will be used for the drafting of the overall sports policy of the Public Entity Saba which is in the early stages of drafting.
The sports policy will serve as a structure to create the basis for sports on Saba and for sports activities both high-level competition sports and recreational. While the sports policy is being drafted, people can already apply for funding for sports events, travel, uniforms, prizes etc. by filling out a form that can be found on the sports page of the website of the Public Entity Saba https://www.sabagov.com/sports
