TRIBUTE
TO
ACYNTA
AUGUSTE aka POPO
ON
MONDAY 7TH MARCH 2016, THE BASILICA OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION AT
2.30 P.M
DELIVERED
BY
THECLA C. DETERVILLE
ON
BEHALF OF NETBALL SAINT LUCIA
It is an honour to offer this tribute on behalf of Netball Saint Lucia
formerly the National Netball Association of Saint Lucia on the passing of our
friend and colleague, Mrs. Acynta Auguste better known as “Popo” to her family,
and friends and as “Auntie Popo” to those whom she nurtured during her netball career. She was one of Saint Lucia’s top netballer,
one who contributed tremendously to the growth and development of netball at
the school, Club and national levels, not only in the Castries basin but throughout
Saint Lucia especially in the South of the Island.
Her involvement in netball started while
she was a student at the St. Joseph’s Convent. Because of her petite size and speed she was a
center player, the position of control and the master mind of the tactics and
movement of the game. She dominated the
Center and Wing Attack positions. She
was fast, agile and possessed excellent ball control skills. As a player she could be considered, “the
queen of pivoting”, which she executed with total grace, power and
control. Her footwork was always a
beauty to watch.
Upon leaving school, she joined the
Catholic Youth Organization, earning selection on the national team for the
regional Cobham Netball series in 1958.
Her leadership qualities won her immediate recognition and she was
appointed captain of the national team, a post she held for the twelve years
she represented the island from 1958 to 1970.
Her prowess was exemplary not only on our National Team but she was outstanding
enough to be selected in 1960 as a member of the West Indies Netball Team, the
first to tour England. There she
received special mention for her performance. She was one of two Saint Lucians selected on
the West Indies Netball team for the first time. The other being Joyce Auguste.
As a coach both at Saint Joseph’s Convent and to the National Team she
was stern and disciplined. She expected
only the best of her wards and pushed them to exercise team spirit and
discipline, whilst horning their skills in the basic tenets of the game, in
ball control, movement on the court, use of space and footwork. It was easy for parents to entrust their
children to her, as was related to me by one of her Vieux Fort players, who
said that she was able to travel to Castries to play and overnight, only if she spent the evening with the Auguste
family.
To proves her tremendous impact on
the game of Netball - within a year of
taking up resident in Vieux Fort, herself and her husband Laurie formed the Southerners Netball Club, captained
and coached by her. The team became the leading side on the island, and in
1964, the entire Netball team was selected to represent Saint Lucia at the
Cobham Tournament in Dominica, and was engaged in highly spirited competition
from other major well established clubs at the time.
She played for Saint Lucia one final
year – 1970 – when she led our team to a second place finish in the regional
series, then retired to take up the more demanding roles of coach and manager.
She also nurtured a cadre of umpires
by sending them to the out districts to umpire domestic matches where they
gained experience and later became qualified umpires. There are many of us in the congregation today
who can say that Popo was our coach.
In 1979 she attended the Nedlands
College for Physical Education in Perth Australia. On completion of her studies she was
appointed the Physical Education Officer in the Ministry of Education in
January 1980. In September of the same
year she along with her colleague sports officers were instrumental in
organizing the Inter Schools Competitions in Netball and other
disciplines. It was under her
stewardship that for the first time in many years, Schools Island wide were the
recipients of much needed sports equipment.
After long and devoted service which
saw the overall development of the Schools Sports and Physical Education
Program she retired from the Ministry of Education in 1994.
Mrs. Auguste was honoured by the
Saint Lucian Government for her meritorious services to sports, receiving the
Les Pitons Gold Medal in 1993. She also
received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Ministry of Youth Development
and Sports at the National Youth Awards in February 2014. She was inducted into the Iyanola Marathoners
Hall of Fame for her sterling contribution to sports in 2002.
She was selfless in her contribution
to sports in Saint Lucia, Netball' lost was Women Cricket’s gain. She lived, loved, learnt and left a legacy.
May her soul rest in perfect peace.
