Beyond the phenomenal tag-line

The 2015 Inter Primary and Inter Secondary Schools Athletics Championships set for the Arnos Vale Playing Field next Tuesday and Wednesday have been draped as phenomenal.{{more}}

One understands the intended hype by the organizers, and they are within their right to make their showings catchy, hence the marketing efforts. Understandably so, the two days are red letter occasions for both levels of the athletics geological ladder, as they are the most anticipated and generate the most interest on the schools’ calendar. The trappings put in place for the occasions are like no other sporting event assigned for schools. The hype is almost unlimited and the efforts to make the events special are sometimes nearing maximum.

Unfortunately, though, the gloss and the likes which immerse these events fade away as quickly as the results are known, until the following year, when the template is put in place again. What if the athletes, the schools’ authorities, the parents, the physical education teachers, the various ministries involved and others put in that same energy all year round?

Is this the type of operation that the sport is best at or is it that we have settled for such mediocrity that it gets a passing grade for keeping the sport alive?

So, the norm is for many athletes to shine through the Secondary Schools’ Championships, then little or nothing is heard of them thereafter.

Others who have the fortitude go on to represent St Vincent and the Grenadines at junior level regionally and internationally, with a few making it on to the global scene – Olympics, World Championships, Commonwealth Games etc. What then, are the root causes of our athletes failure to excel, even on the regional scene?

Why haven’t we won a track and field medal at the Junior Carifta Games since 2009?

Why are fewer and fewer Vincentians attaining athletics scholarships in North America, particularly the United States of America? Are the factors affecting track and field embedded in the general outlook of the sport here?

What then can be done to bring about a change in the once a year puff and make track and field a more meaningful entity?

The causes may be many, they may be hybrid, but whatever are the collective factors, they should be examined and pursued with the intent of brightening the horizon for the sport.

To start with, there is no shortage of trained coaches to impart the knowledge of track and field to the youth population. But the problem is that many are inactive, despite their certification. And, those who are active and are working hard, are not in concert with one another, hence the division in the way things are perceived and done.

There is also a partition erected between the executive of the local parent body for the sport and some of the more active coaches.

From the outside, it is like a ‘we versus them’ approach, rather than ‘we are all in it’ undertaking.

In addition, there seems to be a disconnect between the coaches and the executive as to the objectives and the pathway to be traversed to attain such goals.

Whilst the clashes of personality are inevitable, as it is a trait common to humans which cannot be plucked out, however, a midway channel of co-operation can be had.

The platform is there for growth in track and field, as there is a human stock of the basic ingredients to get us out of the mire of stagnation.

Who then must take the lead in redirecting the process chain to success in the sport?

Are we honest enough to accept that we are not making enough steps to progress and there is a need for the retraining of that will to do better ?

Or are we satisfied with those temporal flashes of brilliance in front of our eyes, which soon fade into the darkness of nothing achievable?

Apart from the cultural change, there must be that greater thrust towards making sports a viable socio-economic entity and a pathway for social transformation.