Training is at the core of SSF

Almost since SSF formally registered as an NGO in St. Lucia, we have been designing and running youth mentoring programmes that are founded on the principles of fairness and inclusivity, following best practices and improving awareness of child safeguarding.  Initially, established in 2008 to help strengthen the capacity of local sports for development efforts targeting less resourced communities, SSF has mentored more than 1,800 youth and many more teachers and youth leaders.
This learning hub aims to support our youth mentoring and other programmes and offers a range of supporting materials and courses based on what we have achieved, what challenged us, what we changed and adapted in the different contexts, and what we have learnt.


OUR FOUNDER

RIP Keith Alexander - 14/11/1956 - 03/03/2010

Keith Alexander was our inspiration and Co-Founder as well as the first technical director of the Sacred Sports Foundation headquartered in Saint Lucia. He passed away unexpectedly in March 2010 at the age of 53. 
A genuine trailblazer in English football, he was a leading professional football executive and a former St. Lucia national football player.
More than 2,300 people turned out at Lincolnshire Cathedral for his funeral, which saw football legends from around the globe pay tribute.  
Widely regarded as the UK's first black professional football manager, he was affectionately known as the "Sir Alex Ferguson of the Lower Leagues". 
Such was his impact in the UK that England’s’ national team players, captained by Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard, asked to wear an armband commemorating his passing on the day of his death. 
He was a passionate defender of diversity and inclusion and successfully managed English League Division 2 club Macclesfield Town and Lincoln City. He also managed Division One club  
Peterborough United and was director of football at Bury FC, after a career playing football in the English lower leagues.
He thrived on discovering new talent and was credited with discovering and nurturing many top players. A FIFA Pro-Licensed coach, Keith was critical to the establishment of the Sacred Sports Foundation, which was his vehicle to work more closely with disadvantaged youth in his native St. Lucia and the Caribbean. Working with local administrators, coaches and players, Keith was dedicated to improving the lives and performance of Caribbean youth.  
His legacy of inclusion, dedication and skill, continues to underpin the work of Sacred Sports Foundation today, carried on by his sister Nova and brother Delroy.
You continue to be missed dearly our beloved brother!!!

Who We Are Today

SSF has a relatively streamlined organisational structure.
Foundation policy and major programme decisions are set and agreed upon by an advisory board.
Operational matters are spearheaded by the Executive Director, who reports regularly to the advisory board.
The Executive Director is also an advisory board member.
The board meets regularly once a month or as required by existing projects.
The Foundation has a range of committees, which address key issues: Financial (headed by our accountant), technical, youth development, child safeguarding, crime and social development, and health & wellness, gender/LGBTQI+ relations
SSF encompasses The views of youth more directly and the board includes members
under the age of 25.

Our People

NOVA ALEXANDER - Executive Director
Nova has had a distinguished career in management, consulting and the tourism & hospitality industry spanning some 30 years. As a director of top hotel & destination marketing company IHDM Ltd based in the UK, Nova headed up new business development and managed a wide range of international clients including representing the National Tourist Office for The Government of Trinidad & Tobago in the UK and Europe. Nova has previously worked in management positions all over the world, including Saint Lucia, Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Antigua, Barbados, Dominica, T&T, Martinique and the United Kingdom. 
Her extensive human resources, event management, 
public relations and operations expertise has been widely utilised in a number of roles to great effect. She has consistently focused on customer service, yield and crisis management, marketing, sports for development and 3rd party tie-ins,
Highly respected for her excellent communication and negotiation skills, Nova is well known for her out of the box thinking and creative approach. 

DELROY ALEXANDER - Chair
He was recognised in February 2018, by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II as the 16th Commonwealth Point of Light Awardee in honour of “his exceptional service leading sports for development programmes for disadvantaged young people across the Caribbean”.
Delroy is a noted crisis manager and journalist.
Shortlisted as part of a four person team for a Pulitzer Prize in 2001 for his work on accountant Arthur Andersen, Delroy is an award winning financial and investigative journalist, editor, and media advisor with more than 20 years communications experience. He is also a trained teacher and tutor with extensive lecturing experience, well versed in mentoring disadvantaged youth.
Delroy has advised a range of clients on media management, journalism practice, crisis management and public relations. As a management consultant, he helped turnaround one of the largest Arabic newspaper in the world. 
Prior to management consulting, he spent six years as a senior business reporter at the Chicago Tribune, and spent six years as a financial editor at The Gleaner Company in Jamaica, helping launch several new publications and reorganising the paper’s editorial management.
Delroy is on the board of the Civil Society Coalition of St. Lucia; a CPDC working group member on Caribbean policy initiatives for NGO's; a member of the Common Goal Network's Safeguarding Committee and an advisory board member of the UNICEF initiative, the International Safeguards for Children in Sport.

RITA DYER - Head of Training
Rita is one of the region's leading trainers and vocational qualification assessors.
Rita is a trained administrator and teacher with several experience at the Division of teacher education at the Sir Arthur Lewis Community College. In 2018, she received the Queen’s Birthday award medal for services in education in St Lucia.  She has worked with disadvantaged youth and is also a trained assessor and verifier for TVET qualification in the region and a moderator for CSEC examinations.
She has a Master's from Ohio State University.

RACHEL MOSES is a senior project manager and former SVG managing director of the National Trust and financial analyst.
She has been with SSF for several years and manages activities in the South of the island.
SSF has a cadre of trained youth mentors and has access to some 28 volunteers and supporters Island-wide.