section_path: Culture/Sport
section_name: Sport
paragraph_text: Sport
  
  Popular team sports in Sint Maarten include baseball, basketball, volleyball, cricket, and soccer. Recreational fishing, golf, and water sports (including diving, kayaking, snorkelling, dinghy sailing, and yachting) are popular amongst tourists and locals alike.
  
  The Sint Maarten Soccer Association was founded in 1986. The organisation is not a member of FIFA, but became an associate member of CONCACAF in 2002, and a full member in 2013. The national football team debuted in 1989, and plays its home games at the Raoul Illidge Sports Complex, which has a 3,000-spectator capacity. After an initial period of popularity during the 1990s, including an appearance at the 1993 Caribbean Cup, interest in football declined, with the national team playing its last official match in 2000 (against Dominica). However, Sint Maarten returned to international competition in March 2016, for the 2017 Caribbean Cup qualification tournament.
  
  The Sint Maarten Cricket Association is a member of the Leeward Islands Cricket Association (LICA), which is, in turn, a member of Cricket West Indies. With rare exceptions (for instance, the Stanford 20/20), the national cricket team plays only against other LICA members, though Sint Maarteners may go on to play for the Leeward Islands team at regional level and are eligible for both the West Indies and the Netherlands internationally like Kacey Carty was when he made international cricket debut first for the West Indies Under-19 and then ultimately for the West Indies. The primary venue for cricket is the Charles Vlaun Cricket Field. Colin Hamer was the first Sint Maartener to play first-class cricket, while Daniel Doram was the first islander to play at international level, debuting for the Netherlands against Ireland in the Intercontinental Cup in July 2013 at the age of 15, also becoming the first St. Maartener to take a first-class five-wicket haul. In 2016 Kacey Carty became the first St Maartener to play representative cricket for the West Indies (for the West Indies under-19s). Carty was the man of the final at the 2016 Under-19 World Cup, and was later described by the prime minister, William Marlin, as having "brought the name of St Maarten to international acclaim".
  
  Prior to cricket becoming popular, baseball was preferred. No national team existed, although Sint Maarteners were eligible to play for the Netherlands Antilles baseball team before its dissolution. Several Sint Maarteners have passed through the American baseball system, playing at college level or in the minor leagues. Allen Halley played college baseball for the South Alabama Jaguars and was drafted by the Chicago White Sox in the 30th round of the 1995 draft, reaching Class A-Advanced in the minor leagues. Three others, Rene Leveret, Marc Ramirez, Denzel Richardson, and Rafael Skeete, were signed as free agents by major league teams during their careers, but played only in the minor leagues.
  
  Sint Maarten Volleyball Association is part of the Eastern Caribbean Volleyball Association, which hosts championship qualifiers with countries within its zone. Countries that are part of the ECVA are: Anguilla, Antigua, Bermuda, Virgin Islands, Dominica, Dutch Sint.Maarten, French St. Martin, Grenada, Montserrat, Saba, St. Eustatius, St. Kitts, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent & the Grenadines. Over the past 8 years, volleyball in St.Maarten on a National level has been developing and showing results. In 2016, the Sint Maarten Men's National Team went on to win the championship in their pool for the round 1 World Championship Qualifiers winning the gold along with many individual awards. The local awardees were; Nicholas Henrietta (Best Setter); Leonardo J Jeffers (Best Outside Hitter); Stephan Ellis (Best Middle); Allinton Augustine (Best Defence); Riegmar Valies Courtar (Best Opposite), and Riegmar Valies Courtar (Best Scorer) and MVP Most Valuable Player.