The Fifa Under-17 Women’s World Cup will be hosted in T&T from September 5-25. The stadia are being properly prepared for the tournament, transport, accommodations and catering arranged and all the other good stuff that goes along with hosting a tournament like this. Did you know that there is a T&T Spirit Mascot for these games? Know what it looks like? The mascot’s name is “Trinity.” I wonder how many locals even care. Millions of dollars will be spent to host this tournament here but do we care? Apparently not. If we did, there would be a better attempt to promote it and get as many people to attend the matches as possible. Even though I was still living in the USA when the Fifa U-17 Men’s World Cup was hosted here in 2001, I knew about it. It seems like the hype for that tournament was greater and the media did a better job of sensitising the general public.
What message does this send to our youngsters? That Carnival and party is what we are really about in this country? What about the message to our athletes? More specifically, what does it say about our regard for female football? I wonder what the vision is when the decision is made by our governing bodies to bid for the opportunity to host tournaments like this. Is it just to say that T&T was able to do it? That we are a country, wealthy enough to take on such a challenge? Or is some thought actually given to the fact that this can be a positive influence on the people, young and old, of T&T. Tournaments like this can be worked into developmental programmes for our youngsters as athletes with big hopes and dreams for themselves in their sport. Not just athletes from T&T but from the entire region should be targeted, lending itself to the added benefit of expanding sports tourism.
Over the last decade, T&T has had the opportunity to host several international tournaments and matches involving senior athletes and the hype and exposure surrounding these events has been much greater in comparison. It is easy to see why this would be the case, however, the value of these junior tournaments must not be misjudged. By glamourising tournaments that target the younger talent, our country encourages the juniors of the sport to establish short-term goals, which in itself is an exercise in molding young minds. These junior tournaments can be used as opportunities to teach our young men and women to be ambassadors and responsible role models for other younger athletes; to be able to deal with the stress of competing at the highest levels and so on.
Being the host nation for the tournament provides additional opportunities to expose and involve non-competing athletes in a unique way. I fully intend to take in some of the matches and when I do, I will be imagining my own daughter on the field one day, amongst such excellence. I hope by then this country would have developed a greater appreciation for the responsibility it has to its young minds. There’s a saying I believe to be true, “If you take care of the small things, the big things take care of themselves.”
We are a country blessed with a natural ability to athleticism but we do little to build on that talent. Instead we expect other countries to do it for us, while allowing opportunities to do it ourselves pass us by. Good luck Soca Princesses. We will be cheering for you!