Change and re-arrange the order of things!
WILL IT BE ANOTHER FLIP of the calendar and things will remain the same sporting wise for the 20252026 academic year?
Hopefully not, as the status quo should not remain; rather an overhaul, a revolution, a change or a re- arrangement in vision, temperament and execution are essentials should sports in the nation’s school see any sort of upward mobility.
This is once more the call, as we enter a new school year and the usual uncertainty and expected poor delivery of the sports programme is envisaged to take the same course.
One’s scepticism cannot be faulted, as over the years, we have become satisfied with the run of the mill stuff, ensuring that the various competitions, both at the primary and secondary levels are completed.
The repeat play has been in effect for so long that things have assumed cultural status and a norm.
Such has been the practice of nonchalance, that some disciplines do not see the light of day and are tucked away as mere relics.
A case in point is schools’ Basketball, which has suffered from lack of structure within the schools, hence, there was no competitions for many years. But it is equally irksome that even the regular and sustained competitions suffer from poor preparation, translating to mere hosting.
The lamentations ventilated in this medium are like a recurring decimal as the keepers of the posts are either incompetent, or innately retrofitted with cells of sabotage. The inevitable result is the blame game either on the national associations or standing policies and procedures.
Also included in the finger pointing is the attitude of our young people- their aptitude and interest in schools and sports alike.
This cyclical phenomenon has crippled and retarded the joy and purpose of organizing and gaining positives from their experiences as student- athletes.
Instead, they are left to waddle themselves through the years, whilst their Godgiven talents just scratch the surface. Misgivings about sports, missed opportunities, and unfulfilled potentials, are the direct derivatives of the scant view given to sports at school by those with the mandate to implement and effect change.
It is a given that sports at the schools’ level is the bedrock of the future of the sustainability, and ultimately the success of all disciplines practised here in St Vincent and the Grenadines and elsewhere.
But amidst the continued existence of grey clouds that forever have been hovering over schools’ sports, that should not obscure the presence of untapped sporting abilities that reside within the walls of the over ninety educational institutions at all levels that make up the student population.
Efforts should be made to tap into, harness, and ultimately make that nexus that may at some stage emerge into stardom.
Conversely, every iota of energy should be expended on arresting the seemingly engrained culture that anything goes with the administration of schools’ sporting programmes and activities.
As the situation worsens, so too is the conception and overall performances of our athletes who are the victims of lax personnel in positions of clout and decision- making.
Hence, this column is ordering a change and rearrangement of the way the general conduct and psyche of sports in our schools is addressed.
Unless this is done, we will forever be mired in despair, and sporting generation after generation will be lost in transition!
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