Challenging the status quo

At last some persons have been bold enough to challenge the status quo, as many of the things we do now, can be done differently.

The brave effort by the management of the Bethel High School to host its 2015 Athletics Championships into the evening last Friday at the Victoria Park certainly exhibits some thinking process and willingness to give things a try and add new ideas.{{more}}

From all reports, things in the main went according to plan and that institution’s entire management must be pleased with the outcome of the innovation within the Vincentian context.

Many had scoffed at the idea when it first surfaced, immediately fast-forwarding issues and likely ramifications of such an undertaking.

Unfair at times, critics are quick to say what would not work, but are unwilling to give it a try or say how it will be successful.

One may have readily accepted the concerns in some quarters, given the social climate which currently exists in St Vincent and the Grenadines.

But as it turned out, the organizers of the event were involved in some detailed planning, touching the vital bases by having the support of the relevant authorities, namely the Ministry of Education and the Royal St Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force; ensuring that the parents and students were intimately involved, and that there was logistical support from the public transport system and the like.

Such networking must have aided in the successful execution of last Friday’s venture.

They believed in themselves that it was the right approach; they were willing to take the bull by the horns, as it were, and proceed with their aspirations.

In the aftermath, most persons inside and outside are pleased with what took place.

The Bethel High School has not only laid down the markers, but established a template for hosting events such as last Friday’s.

Surely, this would be the happenings for the school’s athletics championships for the next few years, except there are drastic changes (forced or progressive) in the school’s management and staff configuration, as basically it was a decision taken and run with in concert with others.

This is not to say that others can lift what took place wholesale and fit it into theirs, but as with everything else, there are the dynamics which are peculiar to the various organizations and locales.

Therefore, what the Bethel High School has been able to accomplish will not be the same for others who may be now toying with copying.

Unfortunately, the absence of lights at other venues negates the possibility of others attempting to duplicate what the Bethel High School has done. Neither do others have the same high percentage of homogeneity when it comes to the place of residence in a particular geographic zone, of the school’s population.

What, however, is possible, is for us to begin to see a deviation from many of the stereotypical affairs which have tattooed many of the operations.

This column has, over the years, been calling for a shift in the timing of the secondary schools’ football competition, with the senior division being held after school.

We have always held that the competition can form part of an after school programme, which would give the players some spectatorship, including parents, relatives and members of the wider community, which is otherwise almost non-existent within what obtains at present.

Some years ago, the Ministry of Education decided to hold its football and netball competitions on the weekend, but after two trials, there was a reversal to the norm of weekdays. Without letting things flow and without analysing whatever shortcomings which surfaced, the authorities buckled under the criticisms, putting things back to where they first were.

Hopefully, we can return to what was attempted a few years ago.

The Bethel High School’s experiment should also give Team Athletics SVG cause to have just another look at one of its more popular events — the National Relay Classics — which, with some tweaks here and there, could be hosted on evenings.

Thanks to the Bethel High School for clearing the vision of those who are obscured by that unwillingness to use intuition, by the game changers and see the benefits of sports.