Does anyone really listen?

There are several outlets which have been employed to relate, highlight and find solutions to the travails experienced in sports here in St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG).

The many proponents who frequently use the airwaves to vent their frustrations at the way things are going, or those who write weekly columns and those who make the postings on social media, all have vested interests in seeing things take a turn for the better.{{more}}

Via the print and electronic media, as well as the social platforms, many have exposed the plethora of injurious situations which have left sports in its totality, a bed-ridden victim caused by prolonged years of neglect.

These forums also provided the dosages which can make sports in SVG well again.

In the main, the realities are that there is no induced malice or unpatriotic motives behind these persons’ pronouncements and expositions, just sheer intimation for better and ultimately, the best.

Unfortunately, there seems to be no one hearing, and if they do, they are not listening to the shouts, the clarion calls for help.

Or is it a case where no one cares about sports, as it is simply recreational and a convenient political tool and a drape to hoodwink and make believe those who show an inclination to travel the progressive routes.

Therefore for many years, SVG in most sporting disciplines is going the opposite direction of better and if policy makers see nothing wrong with such occurrences, then no one is listening.

This stems squarely from the fact that successive government regimes have not seen sports as important; therefore, whatever is achieved, mainly comes from either sheer God-given talent or from persons who have an internal drive to succeed, rather than a structured means to accomplishments.

Linked to this is the continued foot dragging in relation to firming up the National Sports Policy. This, if put in flesh, will surely see SVG making that upward movement, as sports will be a matter of policy; hence, there will be checks and balances in place, to ensure its success.

Maybe it is part of the whole scheme of things to stall its implementation as to avoid the national responsibilities and evade what may be perceived as hard decisions to make and subsequently endure.

Also is there anyone listening to the travails of indoor sports, namely volleyball, netball, basketball and boxing, that this country is in need of a facility to host such disciplines, uninterrupted by adverse weather conditions?

Similarly, there are the pleas for grading and allocation of playing facilities under the aegis of the National Sports Council to be shared between the two major sports of cricket and football, but these have fallen on deaf ears.

This column, over the years, has been one of the proponents for such a measure to be in train, as it ensures a better planning of the two national associations, as they will be armed with specific playing facilities at their disposal within a given time frame.

Our policy makers have also cut off their ears to the many woes which have affected a more meaningful set-up and more so, execution of schools’ competition.

It is without a doubt that SVG possesses one of the worst and poorest arrangements of schools’ sports in the region.

Little attention is being paid to this cradle; hence the continuum takes place and the cycle of underachievement spins without interruption.

Much of this, however, has to do with the political decisions made, as square pegs are found trying to function in round holes.

But whilst the decision makers are aimless and sometimes ill-equipped to take sports from its present mire, some of the administrators at both the community and national levels have allowed pettiness and rancour to become part of their tools of the trade.

As a result, many do not see eye to eye; hence they will not listen to others, while the division gap widens.

The above mentioned issues are just a few among a host of others which have to be fixed and fixed soonest.

One may say that commentators of sports harp too much on the negatives and smooth over the positives.

But it should be widely accepted that there is more bad than good that is happening within the sporting landscape of St Vincent and the Grenadines.

It can be safely said that those who have taken on the task of bringing to the fore the wrongs of sports here will continue to do so until one day, someone, some place, will open his or her ears.

Not only to listen, but endeavour in an efficacious manner to move towards fixing the many debilitating factors confronting sports here in SVG.