SVG ready to take off with Sports For Life programme

St Vincent and the Grenadines is readying itself for take off with its Sports For Life progamme.

A two-day symposium last Monday and Tuesday at Frenches House in Kingstown engaged representatives from national associations, {{more}}governmental arms, teachers and others towards the implementation of the programme.

The symposium was facilitated by Canadian Richard Way, who is a member of the Sport For Life Delivery Team and included topics such as the Background and Development of Long-Term Athlete Development (LTAD), Physical Literacy, as well as Advancing Health and Education based on Physical Literacy.

Way’s presentation over the two days fertilized the thoughts and ambitions of the participants.

Rickydene Alexander of the local swimming set-up, in reviewing the two days of the symposium, assessed it a worthwhile experience.

Another participant, Yolande London, added: “It brought a new approach on how I viewed sports in general….This view speaks to a holistic approach, not just preparation, for competition as sometimes sporting bodies/coaches spend more emphasis on…. I’ve learned new strategies in terms of how to deal with different athletes who may be at different levels and also techniques to get and keep athletes in sports.”

Apart from the dissemination of the various topics, representatives from sporting disciplines and government agencies made proposals which they are hopeful will come to fruition and get the necessary funding from the Canada’s arm of the Sports For Life programme.

Under the care of the St Vincent and the Grenadines Olympic Committee, which forms part of a broader undertaking by the Caribbean Association of National Olympic Committees (CANOC), the proposed Sports For Life programme involves five sporting disciplines – athletics, beach volleyball, cycling, swimming and table tennis.

The projection is that the Sports For Life programme will develop a total of 25 sport/country specific Long-Term Athlete Development (LTAD) models.

This will be achieved whereby personnel from Sports For Life will visit St Vincent and the Grenadines five times for two days per visit, at an interval of four months for in-person meetings with each national association’s work group to develop a national sport specific athlete development pathway.

In addition, Sports For Life will be provide appropriate homework, as well as remote coaching and development to occur with an Long-Term Athlete Development (LATD) expert in between visits.(RT)