Mission Statement

"The preservation of West Indian/Caribbean Culture through education of traditional customs to include sports, cuisine, cultural displays and performing arts".

History

West Indies United (WIU) has been in existence since the spring of 1981. This not-for-profit organization started out with a few West Indian guys, their wives and friends wanting to play soccer and socialize with each other.

Most of these guys were in the military and played for the Oceana soccer team. They had no place to play soccer so they "hung out" at Little Creek Naval Base and Lake Taylor High School, after work, with hopes of getting an available soccer field. Transportation to their “new” hangout was very difficult. Some had to walk in order to get there while others spent hours begging for a ride; besides, being in a new community did not help any. At first, they played on the side while they took turns answering all calls at a now removed public phone booth nearby.

As time went by, they developed ways of encouraging each other to come around and socialize at a field that they did not have and could not call “home.” Relatives and friends came when they could with hopes of seeing their favorite sport played by their countrymen and at times, women.

Communication also posed a problem since some had no telephones at their residence and others stayed on the naval ships on which they were assigned. On rainy days, you could imagine how difficult it was to get everyone there and on time to play a game. Not having the luxury of a cell phone did not diminish their desire to get together. In true West Indian fashion, word got around and more people started coming out to play the game they loved.

Soon, they were able to form a team and challenge those teams in cities that had other West Indians including Miami, Canada and New York.

Despite the problems of poor communication and lack of transportation, they had an undocumented vision to unite and play as a team. This is how the foundation for West Indies United was laid and the vision set 28 years ago.

As the saying goes “the only thing that remains constant is change” and changes there have been. The old dependable phone booth at Lake Taylor High School is gone; the fields were re-arranged to accommodate the increasing need for the "new" sport. Members now use mobile phones to contact each other and transportation is no longer an issue. Membership continues to grow and new faces of fellow West Indians are seen at the monthly meetings which are held the 3rd (primary) or 4th (5 Saturday months) Saturday of every month.

Today, teams from Canada and New York continue to make the annual trip to the Hampton Roads area to do what they have been doing for the past 28 years - play soccer. The desire to meet other West Indians, play the game and socialize has established “unity in our community”, the watchwords of WIU. Through it all, WIU has survived as the leading West Indian Organizations in Hampton Roads.

Let's look at some of the things this vibrant organization has been doing within the Hampton Roads community for over 28 years: WIU was the first Caribbean organization to bring carnival to the Hampton Roads area in 1995 & 1996. WIU established a scholarship fund to help our kids ease the financial burden of their first college experience; to date (Oct 2008), over $5,800.00 has been awarded. WIU Sponsors the end of the school year pool party and honor roll recognition for our kids. WIU sponsors an annual kids Christmas party and honor roll recognition for all kids.

There are many other events that WIU has established in Hampton Roads. A quick check of our calendar of events and photo gallery will give the full picture of our accomplishments. Call us, talk to us, join us, see our vision of "unity in our community".

We believe in the preservation of our culture...............What about you?

Founding Members

• Roy "Papa Roy" Burkett
• Gilbert "Ras Teddy" Hall
• David "Jah Dee" Jones
• Mike "Mikey" Rose
• Vyburt Silcott
• Wayne Smiley
• Patrick Thompson