Let’s talk sports

A most interesting discussion took place during last Saturday night’s “Let’s Talk Sports” call- in programme of NBC Radio. It had to do with the treatment of sports in St. Vincent and the Grenadines and its role and place in national development. The subject came up in the context of an exchange over the Windward Islands School Games, an annual multi-disciplinary tournament rotated among the four Windward Islands, and held in the long July-August vacation.{{more}} St. Vincent and the Grenadines is this year’s host, but several callers expressed some concern as to whether this country is taking the Games with the seriousness which they deserve.

The calls were not without merit, and must be viewed in light of what many perceived as the continued decline of SVG in the field of sport. This small country has a proud history in the sporting arena. Local historian Dr. Adrian Fraser has repeatedly pointed to the early 20th century exploits of Vincentian cricketer Charles Ollivierre. You think it was easy for a small islander to make the West Indies cricket team in1900, or to become the first black man from the Caribbean to play county cricket in England (for Derbyshire 1901-1907)? But do we, save for the likes of Drs. Fraser and John (Kenneth), ever remember him?

Similarly, we have produced legendary individuals and teams in the major sporting disciplines – cricket, football and netball, to the extent that where sport is concerned, this little country of ours used to rub shoulders with the “big ones” of Trinidad, Jamaica and Barbados, often rubbing their noses in the dust, too. The Vincentian netball team was, for decades, a powerhouse, before prudent investment by Jamaica, Trinidad and Barbados saw them leaving us behind. Today, even our own OECS neighbours are threatening to do that.

It is not just in major sports, however. Without proper facilities, not even a proper park, having to settle for a Victoria Park steeply sloped at one end, we managed to stage regional competitions in cycling, bringing in cyclists from Trinidad to compete with “Nana” Durrant and company. We staged regular boxing bouts, at Youth centre, and Association Hall. John Horne, Donny St. John, Fred Prescod and company kept basketball and volleyball going, long before we even knew of an NBA. And even on the bumpy grass tracks, Vincentian speedster Bunny Baptiste was spoken of in the region (including the then premier Southern Games in Trinidad) almost in the same breath as U.S Olympic sprinters.

So we have a rich legacy on which to build. Where did the wheels begin to fall off? Is it in our failure to invest in facilities to develop our huge potential? In the programme to which I earlier referred, one caller pointed to six schools, with thousands of students and pupils, having to share one ground in Kingstown, while another cluster is in the vicinity of a second playing field without access to it. We are still building schools with lip service to sporting facilities. Access to proper sports facilities is every bit as important as access to academic tools for learning. In fact, with the way the world is going today, our young athletes may very well, given the opportunities, be able to earn a more decent living than the academically inclined. We seem not to notice, not to care.

On the radio, in the paper, on the block, we lament how our educational system does not seem to have sports (or art, for that matter) at its centre. The organization and management of proper and lasting structures and competitions at the school level, beginning with the primary schools, is still far from what is desired in a modern society. Keith Joseph weary write about this; he gets personal licks in return. So when almost all our neighbours on the way up, the once proud and mighty St. Vincent and the Grenadines degenerating into crime, drugs, sex and texting.

The malaise runs throughout the entire system – sporting associations rent asunder by personal disputes and inflated egos, the lack of proper club structures, the unyielding hold on power by some who consider their leadership positions to be their personal fiefdom and rule iron-fisted over any who would dare challenge, facilities controlled by a few whose arbitrary decisions determine access or denial of it—we could go on and on.

If only we could spare as much effort in beginning to put things right in the sporting arena, maybe a lot of other things would fall in place and our youth would have less of the hopelessness that seems to engulf them and condemn them to waste their natural talents. We seem to set down no markers, not to have any pointers, nor to draw on any references to our history and experiences to guide us. One reason may be in that same weakness in club structures and with it, lack of continuity. We don’t build sporting clubs; we organize teams-for a particular competition, or year or period. The Maple netball club is one of a few exceptions. So we are not grounded in a history of achievement.

Another related factor is our disregard for statistics, sporting statistics. As a youngster, my generation grew up with a fond regard for – who made the most runs in that year, who scored the most goals for that team, which teams had the most victories etc. etc. What records can we hold up for aspiring youths? Where do we find records of who played the most games for the national netball team, what is the highest score made by a batsman in a season, who scored the most goals in Windward Islands football? Where can I find this information so as to pass on to my grandchildren?

National hero Hugh Mulzac entitled his autobiography “A Star to Steer by.” Where is that lodestar to guide our young ones? We making sport!

Renwick Rose is a community activist and social commentator.