Net­ball stal­wart Martha Ali­cia Archer, Richard Fakoory and Ed­mund Jack­son Pouchet are very well-known for their con­tri­bu­tions to sports in T&T and on Re­pub­lic Day, Tues­day, at the Na­tion­al awards they were de­served­ly recog­nised for their work, com­mit­ment and sac­ri­fice over many decades.

Archer and Fakoory (posthu­mous­ly) were pre­sent­ed the Hum­ming­bird Medal (Gold) while Pouchet re­ceived the Hum­ming­bird Medal (Sil­ver) at the cer­e­mo­ny to cel­e­brate this na­tion's 43rd year as a re­pub­lic at the Na­tion­al Acad­e­my for Per­form­ing Arts (NA­PA) in Port-of-Spain.

The medal is award­ed to any per­son who has ren­dered loy­al and de­vot­ed ser­vice ben­e­fi­cial to T&T in any field of hu­man en­deav­our or for gal­lantry or oth­er hu­mane ac­tion. The Hum­ming Bird Medal is award­ed in Gold, Sil­ver or Bronze un­der the Na­tion­al Awards Com­mit­tee’s “as­sess­ment of the lev­el of the ser­vice ren­dered by the re­cip­i­ent.”

Archer of To­ba­go is a for­mer busi­ness ser­vice man­ag­er Wa­ter and Sew­er­age Au­thor­i­ty (WASA) Sports. She is this coun­try’s longest-serv­ing net­ball ad­min­is­tra­tor, hav­ing served as pres­i­dent of the T&T Net­ball As­so­ci­a­tion (TTNA) for 14 years (1991-2003, 2005-2007). She was the head of the To­ba­go Net­ball League (TNL) for 10 years (1999–2003, 2007–2013) and sec­re­tary/trea­sur­er for 20 years (1978–1998).

Archer, the first To­bag­on­ian to be elect­ed pres­i­dent of a Na­tion­al Sport­ing As­so­ci­a­tion, was al­so the Amer­i­c­as Fed­er­a­tion of Net­ball As­so­ci­a­tions (AF­NA) vice-pres­i­dent from 1994-2018.

For­mer busi­ness­man Fakoory's award was two-fold as he was recog­nised for his com­mu­ni­ty ser­vice and his im­pact in lo­cal sports.

The for­mer T&T Pro League chair­man passed away on March 27 from a pul­monary aneurysm, which he re­ceived on­ly a day af­ter he had surgery for a block­age in the ab­domen at the West­shore Med­ical Fa­cil­i­ty.

Fakoory, the own­er and founder of St Ann's Rangers, for­mer­ly Su­per­star Rangers is re­mem­bered for me­di­a­tion skills and was al­ways ac­ces­si­ble to many young sports­men and women in T&T.

Pouchet is a for­mer na­tion­al swim coach has been ho­n­oured with the "Coach of the Year" award on mul­ti­ple oc­ca­sions by the Am­a­teur Swim­ming As­so­ci­a­tion of T&T (ASATT).

The for­mer na­tion­al swim­mer served as na­tion­al head coach of sev­er­al Ju­nior World, Carif­ta Games, Caribbean Is­lands Swim­ming Cham­pi­onships (CISC) and Cen­tral Amer­i­can and Caribbean Am­a­teur Swim­ming Con­fed­er­a­tion (CC­CAN) teams over the last decade.

Pouchet still func­tions as a tech­ni­cal ad­vis­er with na­tion­al teams, a ser­vice he has done over the years.