Does anyone really care about sport? Published: Guardian
Thursday, September 11, 2014
Tarouba stadium...how much benefit has it brought to our sporting community?
Asha Defreitas-Moseley
It has been a while since I have published an article for my column and now that I am back, I sit here looking for inspiration on something to write. Something relevant and pertinent to the local environment.
I struggle to find it as a part of me wonders, “What is the point anymore? Does anyone really care? Is anyone really listening?”
Project after project, millions of dollars have been spent on failed ventures in Trinidad and Tobago and no real consequence or accountability shown for it.
The new budget proposes a 30 per cent reduction for sport and although this is not a good thing, can anyone really blame a decision like that? We have Tarouba, a grossly overpriced flag and Life Sport to show for the billions that were spent between these projects and how much benefit has any of them brought in return? Worse yet, has there been any justice to the people? I am no politician so I won’t pretend to understand or be even interested in the political games of this land but it certainly appears that malfeasance has become the order of the day.
“You can bring the horse to the water, but you cannot make it drink it.” Could that saying be any more pertinent to the local sports industry.
On social media I still read some folks’ belief that there remains a lack of understanding or awareness that sport has become more than a hobby now but a real business entity, perfectly capable of sustaining itself while positively impacting the country and the lives of its citizens.
However, technology has long advanced beyond the feasibility of that excuse, breaking down the barriers of communication that may have crippled us some 30 years ago. Ignorance is certainly no longer a valid excuse. It is the strength of character that is lacking in many of our ‘leaders’ that is the problem.
There are people in this country with the knowledge, experience and genuine desire to make a difference in the lives of young athletes but few get the chance to make an impact. I have sat in on several brain-storming sessions in various sports disciplines that include martial arts, volleyball and rugby as well as discussions to better provide general athlete health care to national athletes and every time I am disappointed to see nothing come out of it. If we could have someone sit at the helm with a genuine desire to positively impact on the way athletes and sports are managed starting with the basics, it can be proven that while the task is not easy, nor without expense, it is possible to create sustainable projects even in our small island and produce better prepared, better equipped, more focused athletes.
I have heard it said by some of our icon athletes that things are not necessarily worse than they used to be… they just have not changed much. It is very debatable that by this very fact that we can be seen to have regressed. Despite being a country blessed with so much natural and human resources, we still cannot bring a programme together that is athlete centred. Time and time again, foreign coaches are brought in to audit various sports programmes and make recommendations and every time the recommendations of these elite coaches echo the sentiments of the local professionals. The difference is, a bucket of money was spent to hear it said from someone else. This repeating pattern has become tiring.
I have been working in the sports industry since 2007 and I am grateful for the opportunities I have been afforded in that time but there is the need to raise the bar. Given all the squandering displayed over the last 15 years by government officials, I now find it hard to believe that the right tools cannot be afforded the relevant bodies to get what they need to raise the standard. It is simply a matter of prioritizing and recognising those worthy of such responsibility.
