Sir Arthur Lewis Community College and St Joseph's Convent sit top of their respective groups after the opening day of the 2026 Under-19 Netball Tournament, which began on Wednesday with six games played across two venues. The story was first reported by St. Lucia Times.
As reported by St Lucia Times, defending champions Vieux Fort Comprehensive Secondary School made a winning start to their title defence, beating Soufriere Comprehensive Secondary School 20-16 at the Micoud Multipurpose Court to take five points from their first match in Group B.
VFCSS arrive as the team to catch, having won the previous title with a narrow 31-30 final victory over Micoud Secondary, a match in which Hayla Samuel was named tournament MVP and Mya King captained the side. Wednesday's scoreline was tighter than they would have liked, but the three points of difference were enough to open their account.
It was SALCC, though, who lead Group B after the first round of matches. The Castries-based college, whose roster includes senior international Naija Ferdinand, overwhelmed Choiseul Secondary School 37-13, and that 24-goal margin puts them first in the standings on goal difference. Beanefield Comprehensive Secondary School, 21-13 winners over Leon Hess Comprehensive Secondary School, sit second on +8, with Vieux Fort Comprehensive third on +4. All three have five points.
Over at the Beausejour Gymnasium, Group A produced an even more emphatic pacesetter. St Joseph's Convent defeated Entrepot Secondary School 41-11, a 30-goal difference good enough for top spot. Saint Lucia Sports Academy beat Castries Comprehensive Secondary School 29-7 to take second on +22, while Sir Ira Simmons Secondary School edged Babonneau Secondary School 24-16 to occupy third place on +8.
Netball holds a central place in sport in Saint Lucia, and the schools tournament has long been the pipeline that feeds the senior national programme, with players such as Ferdinand coming through exactly this route before earning senior international recognition.
The competition resumes on Monday with another six fixtures. In Group A at Beausejour, Saint Lucia Sports Academy meet Sir Ira Simmons Secondary at 10 a.m., Babonneau face St Joseph's Convent at 11:45 a.m., and Castries Comprehensive play Entrepot Secondary at 1:30 p.m. Group B action returns to the Micoud Multipurpose Court, where Soufriere Comprehensive take on Beanefield Comprehensive, Leon Hess Comprehensive meet SALCC, and Vieux Fort Comprehensive come up against Choiseul Secondary.
For anyone following the tournament from overseas, matches at this level are part of the everyday fabric of school life on the island, and visitors on family holidays in St Lucia often find local fixtures open to the public and welcoming to travelling supporters, particularly at community courts such as the one in Micoud.
The SALCC side carries a name familiar well beyond the netball court. Sir Arthur Lewis Community College, established in 1985, is the island's main tertiary institution, named after the Castries-born economist who shared the 1979 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for his pioneering research into development in poorer countries. St Joseph's Convent, meanwhile, is one of the oldest secondary schools in the capital, and its presence at the top of Group A on goal difference gives the opening round a distinctly Castries flavour at the Beausejour venue.
The wider island sporting calendar gives travellers several reasons to time a trip around competition. Match days at the Daren Sammy Cricket Ground near Gros Islet remain among the most atmospheric things to do in St Lucia for sports fans, and school and club netball adds to that calendar through the year, though visitors checking the best time to visit St Lucia should note that tournament schedules follow the local academic year rather than the tourism season.
Getting to see a fixture is straightforward for visitors already on the island. Most arrive on direct flights to St Lucia into Hewanorra International Airport in the south, and from resorts around Gros Islet or Castries a taxi to the Beausejour Gymnasium takes well under an hour, making an afternoon of school sport an easy addition to any itinerary.
Whether SALCC's goal difference advantage or St Joseph's Convent's heavy opening win proves a reliable guide to the finals will become clearer after Monday's second round, when the defending champions face Choiseul and the Group A leaders meet Babonneau in what could be their sternest test yet of the 2026 tournament.
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