Make them accountable

Several of our national sporting associations’ officials, government ministers, government agencies, other political figures and coaches have been getting away with impunity, because no one has held them accountable for their verbal guarantees.

The many promises that have been spouted have been swallowed, hook, line and sinker, by those with itchy ears and wanting to hear something positive in the sphere of sports.

While some may be well-meaning, others have turned out to be just hot air.

Many would always hear some politicians claim, with some pompous certainty, that our national sportsmen and women should be employed at school, college or university.

Far from the case, as many have served their one-year stint at a school, providing additional manpower to that institution, then they are placed on the sidelines and more so, on the breadline.

Also, there was the solemn promise to build a more focused way towards the development of sports in the primary, secondary, post-secondary, tertiary educational institutions.

But there has not been any move to assist Vincentians to actively make sports a career opportunity.

Has anyone seen any inkling of these being shaped by way of policies and programmes?

Likewise, the same set of politicians have taken the sportsmen and women and the nation as a whole, with the promise of an indoor multi-purpose sporting complex.

Year in, year out, the preferred choice is to adopt the ‘send the fool a little further’ approach, as we are yet to glimpse the commencement of that indoor facility.

Neither coming to fruition out of the empty promises are the BMX cycling track, the beach volleyball court and homes for various sporting disciplines.

There are also many communities that are awaiting the upgrade of their playing fields or hard courts, but with their patience waning.

Some are hoping for one day to have at least the symbolic ground-breaking for the anticipated new playing field, as offered by those with the purse strings.

But those who spew the assurances are not alone with their “sound good” talk, which is not meant to be fulfilled.

One track and field coach was self-assured and confident that he only needed “a blade of grass” and would have given St Vincent and the Grenadines a medal at the Junior Carifta Games.

Seven years since, he has been provided with more than a blade of grass, a playing field, yet that medal has not been forthcoming.

Coaches of many sporting disciplines are still unable to get for their charges the many scholarships to US colleges and universities.

Send them out on scholarships, was the bait for the vulnerable minds, for joining their camp, team or club.

Then, there are those who need some gentle reminder of their mouthing.

The hierarchy of the St Vincent and the Grenadines Cricket Association Inc should know that there are those who follow them; that the batting cages, which were to be strewn across St Vincent and the Grenadines, are yet to be realized.

Similarly, Team Athletics SVG continues to chink on its programmes, with the road racing season reduced to a handful of events.

Caught up in this cutback, seemingly, is the annual awards ceremony, to reward those athletes and officials for their output during the year.

These occurrences are against the declarations of improvements in all areas of the sport.

But the local track and field body must be following the lead of others, or the other way around.

This, as the SVG Cycling Union did not have a reward ceremony to acknowledge good performances for 2016.

The SVG Cycling Union must have forgotten that there was a calendar item set for earlier this year, to have a duly constituted body.

These are just some of the highlights of what have been used as promises, which contribute to the stagnation of sports in St Vincent and the Grenadines.

In all these, will the sportsmen and sportswomen, as well as the sports-loving public in general, ever insist that those persons in authority who have made those unfulfilled promises, be made accountable?