INDIGENOUS Guyanese and West Indies rugby player Carrin Carter, who has played the game at the highest level, for over two decades, is working to forge the next generation of stars.
The 41-year-old, who took a break from the game has returned to the West Indies women’s rugby team.
She returned to the regional side at the behest of West Indies team Technical Director and Coach Wayne Pantor, who was eager to field a female team at the Tropical 7s Rugby competition in the USA.
She says that Pantor, knowing the struggles of the female game, sought to create an avenue for some of the Caribbean’s best female talent, and she was given a chance into the regional setup.
“The West Indies team was formed mainly to help Caribbean players showcase our talent at a different level because in the Caribbean, when it comes to sponsorship, most of our unions are not financially able to take us to tournaments around the world or tournaments at a higher level,” she said.
She says that coming back from her first tour with the West Indies team in 2024, where they finished second place, she was inspired to rekindle the female side of the game locally, and along with Tricia Munroe, began to plot the way forward for the women’s programme.
Carter, in collaboration with then Guyana Rugby Football Union (GRFU) President Ryan Dey, began working with a few young females from the youth development programme that targeted some city schools.

She says that many responded, but a few stuck with the programme after seeing the vision for the game.
Some of the same financial challenges that affected her career in the past threatened to derail the progress of the young ladies she has been working with since the under-18 level but an appeal to Commissioner of Police Clifton Hicken bore fruit a few months ago. As a result, she was able to bring the young women under the Police Rugby Club so that they could be supported to further develop their game.
The programme has since grown from eight to 18 players ready and raring to compete.
“Looking at the opportunity it creates for youths, I wanted to have a young team. I saw how they could develop themselves not only as individual players but also by looking at a path where Guyana Rugby can also develop because if these students have scholarships to go and play abroad because we don’t have that many players or teams in Guyana to have games every weekend, but if we have players going to gain scholarships and have the experience, they can come back and represent Guyana, so we can be at that level where we can compete with other teams.”
She says the financial support from the police team will provide the requisite assistance to help the team keep progressing as well as help players focus on the game.
Carter noted that she was aiming to take a youth team to a rugby 7s competition in the USA earlier this year but had to abort because of lack of funds and visa challenges.
This did not deter her spirit, as she admitted that work will continue with the group now under the Police Force and they have plans of going to the Tropical 7s in the USA next year to compete.
She says her goal is to develop a team to compete all year-round at different competitions to keep them active and engaged.
“It is only one tournament that the national team trains for, and it is RAN 7s tournament, and as athletes and rugby players, we cannot just train for one tournament, and we are just going to that tournament. You can get the best out of us; we need that experience, and we need other tournaments. We need to be playing more games leading up to the RAN tournament, so that is my goal: trying to take these players to these tournaments to have that experience and exposure.”
She says this is crucial, as it also provides the chance for the player to be scouted for a college scholarship.