Helen Phillip, widow of former St Lucia cricketing hero Francis Mindoo Phillip, launched the Francis Mindoo Phillip Sport for Life! Centre at the Beausejour Cricket Ground in St Lucia on 2nd April 2009.

Located in Beausejour's media centre, the Information Technology centre will provide sport, education and healthy lifestyle training to disadvantaged children who are failing to reach their potential at school and in society.

The Centre will have an IT suite equipped with 10 computers, printer and an interactive whiteboard. Children aged 10-16 will come to the Centre for a three hour session on Saturday mornings which will be split between learning and sports coaching. The learning component will include specially developed curriculum material in key subjects such as English, maths and science, along with healthy lifestyle and leadership modules. Cricket coaching will also be provided in association with the St Lucia National Cricket Association.

Sport for Life! Inc. is a St Lucia registered not-for-profit organisation. Funding for the project has come from the British High Commission who are equipping the Centre, and a number of trusts and foundations in the UK. Microsoft is providing software free of charge for Sport for Life! across the region. It is hoped further funding will come from private sector organisations both in the Caribbean and the UK.

The programme has the active support of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).

Commenting on the launch, Mrs Phillip said: "My husband believed that sport - and particularly cricket - could change young people's lives for the better. He devoted his life to it and to young people and would be proud to know that his memory lives on at Beausejour Cricket Ground linked with such a life-changing programme as Sport for Life! I am delighted that it will now form part of his personal legacy".

Brian Calixte, President of the St Lucia National Cricket Association said: "Cricket plays a increasingly central role in St Lucian society. Sport for Life! gives us the opportunity to expand that role and help many children in St Lucia who could be making more of their lives. The Beausejour Cricket Ground is a first class facility and Sport for Life! will ensure that it fulfils its purpose as a centre for community activity as well host to world class cricket matches."

Fortuna Belrose of Sport for Life! Inc said: "Francis Mindoo Phillip was a sporting inspiration to so many St Lucians and it is right that Sport for Life! has the potential to fundamentally change the lives of many children both in Gros Islet and across the island for the better. We are immensely grateful to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and to our other sponsors for getting us to this point and will now be looking for additional resources both internationally and domestically, to enable the project to develop and expand."