‘Re-energise your communities,’ says TASVG President

The flagging fortunes of sports here in St Vincent and the Grenadines can be stemmed through the re- energizing of the various communities.{{more}}

Putting forward this view was president of Team Athletics SVG Keith Joseph, as he addressed his organisation’s prize-giving and awards ceremony recently on the topic: “Rekindling hope in Sports”.

Joseph informed the audience at Frenches House that for realizing the ambitions, Team Athletics has identified five target communities in order to get the process going forward.

He cited the communities of Layou/Barrouallie, Sion Hill, Stubbs, Union Island and North Windward as the areas earmarked for such development.

“We (are) working with the schools to develop Junior Olympians clubs that will then flow into the communities and we are seeking to develop community-based clubs that are multi-sport oriented.”

In mapping out the pathway, and using athletics as the base sport, Joseph prescribed: “We are prepared to start forming clubs… We may start with athletics as a base, but we are talking to other sports, to cycling, to table tennis … Let us work together and start forming multi-sport clubs… Let us re-energise our communities…”

Joseph noted that Team Athletics SVG has begun this move, as evident by its 2014 calendar.

“You will see in our calendar for the year, we are taking sports back to the communities … We are re-introducing community athletics competitions… Put your greasy pole in the middle if you want, but we will have fun…We want people skipping… We want people in tug-o’-war; We want people doing all sorts of athletics activities for the fun of it. What we are doing is re-shaping the way we do things,” Joseph suggested.

The TASVG head said that with more persons active, it will then translate into more persons involved in more sporting disciplines and reiterated the overall benefits of having a healthy population.

Joseph was the replacement featured speaker, as Ephraim Serrette, the president of the National Association of Athletics Administrations of Trinidad and Tobago (NAAATT), the designated speaker was unable to attend because of work commitments. (RT)