Harper-Hall first to receive Esther Maynard Icon Award

Veteran athlete and sports administrator, Kathy Harper-Hall, continues to break barriers in Barbados and beyond. Already with numerous achievements and awards under her belt, she added the most recent and one of the most prestigious to her growing collection when she copped the inaugural Barbados Olympic Association (BOA) Women in Sport Commission Esther Maynard Icon Award.

During a virtual ceremony hosted on Sunday evening, Harper Hall, whose name is synonymous with sport in the Caribbean, became the first-ever recipient of the award which is named for another local female mogul of sports administration. Established in 2020 by the Women in Sport Commission which was put in place to advise the BOA executive board on development and implementation of women in sport policy, the award represents opportunity, recognition and empowerment; and highlights role models and change agents in their pursuit of gender equality.

With the award to be bestowed annually to women, men or organisations who have made remarkable contributions to the development, encouragement and reinforcement of women’s and girls’ participation in sport, Esther Maynard herself stated that Harper-Hall was equally iconic in world of sport and education and that she had used sport to positively impact many lives.

“Kathy Harper-Hall epitomises what this award is intended to represent. The aspirations of all those who use sport to transform lives, and by their actions, to embrace the power of sport to change Barbados and to change the world. Her positive influence on the thousands of young people over the past 50 years is a sterling contribution to the development of young women in sport. Her positive influence on these young women from her early days of teaching at the Alleyne School and St. Lucy Secondary School, it was so easy to see the positive changes in the young girls and teenagers with whom she interacted,” she said.

Harper-Hall, who has lived and worked as a teacher, coach, sports official and administrator in Barbados for over 50 years after emigrating from her native Jamaica, has spread her influence across many areas of social development in Barbados within several clubs, schools and sporting federations, including the Barbados Boxing Association, the Athletics Association of Barbados and the Barbados Netball Association. Having taught at the Alleyne School and the St. Lucy Secondary School as well as working her way through the ranks at the National Sports Council to Assistant Director of Sport, have seen her on the frontline of development of young women in sport.

On the evening which saw tributes from the likes of Annette Beckett, Neil Murrell, Kimberley Gittens and Akela Jones, in addition to Maynard, one sentiment was echoed clearly and it was that the inaugural award could not be presented to a more outstanding and deserving recipient. Harper-Hall, who is currently 82, said that she was grateful for the recognition, although she never saw herself as an icon.

“Throughout the over six decades that I have been involved in sports, I have never at any time considered that I could or would ever be classified as an icon. However, my contributions have been recognised by several organisations and individuals, and I have received several awards, medals and other tokens of appreciation, both locally and regionally. I consider today’s award extra special because of the person in whose name it is being awarded.”

Going on to call it an honour and a privilege, Harper-Hall had words of advice for any young women who are thinking of getting into sports administration, stating that they should get involved in sports not just to receive, but to give.

“In the field of sport administration, I do not think of myself as a woman when I am doing it – I think of myself as a sport administrator. And I would encourage young women when you are getting involved in it, don’t see yourself as just women. Just get in there and do it. You will find that there are rewards and benefits. A lot of people believe that sports administrators get opportunities to get on a plane and travel. It is not about that at all. It is about what you can offer, what you can give to young people and the contributions that you can make,” she said. (MP)