Is Bodybuilding resting eternally?

Off the bat, On Target wants to ascertain whether or not there still exists a national organisation to administer bodybuilding here in St Vincent and the Grenadines?

It may be more pertinent to find out if there are persons who are interested in bodybuilding as a sporting discipline.

Yes, there was once the St Vincent and the Grenadines Amateur Bodybuilding, Powerlifting and Fitness Federation.

The last data would show that organisation had as its president Korean Williams. In fact, she was last elected to lead the organisation in March of 2011.

Since, that organisation has gone from bad to worse, to the point that it is non-functional.

This, despite the many promises by Williams to devise ways to revive, not only the organisation, but to inject some life into the sport.

These promises, big talk, rhetoric of baseless mouthings, have gone to zero, as nothing of significance has ever been done for the past decade for bodybuilding and weightlifting here in St Vincent and the Grenadines.

Such has been the lull, the lay-off and non-activity, that unfortunately, there must be a generation which would possess little knowledge of bodybuilding, as well as weightlifting, as competitive sports. Even prior to 2011, bodybuilding was suffering from a lack of leadership and was in a protracted state of crisis.

Then, there was that struggle for ownership of the organisation. The late John Mc Lean and Steve Victory, were having a hard time wrestling to take the sport out of the hands of those who sought to own it by a self-acclaimed decree.

The two must be turning in their graves as to what has become of a sport that once had pride of place in the sporting annals of St Vincent and the Grenadines.

More so, the earlier pioneers who would have framed out the way for bodybuilding to strive, and those who are still around physically, they too must be baffled by what has been done or more precise, what has not been done.

Lest we forget, about two decades ago, St Vincent and the Grenadines was the home of a number of bodybuilding championships, which attracted guest posers from other part of the Caribbean.

Then, there was a buzz, there was plenty of interest and our bodybuilders were beginning to build a reputation on the regional scene.

Today, these accomplishments and heights are figments of our imagination.

Even before the most recent past, which on reflection can be deemed “hey days”, St Vincent and the Grenadines held its own regionally, punching its weigh against the who’s who from the larger territories, and doing so with some respect and prowess.

But we have to now sit and look in the rear view mirror with despondency.

For their actions, some sports administrators here in this country have to find a way of repenting for all the wrongs they have committed to the sportsmen and women, and more so to the nation as a whole.

But we cannot forever whine, mope and cry over spilt milk, as that will not help the return of bodybuilding and weightlifting.

It is also pointless to rehash the ills of those who pierced the fatal dagger into the biceps and triceps of bodybuilding, wrote its eulogy with delight and gleefully read its final rites.

Hence, the time is rife for the resurrection to take place. Dark and daunting as it may seem, a renaissance of bodybuilding can be attained.

This, as in recent times there has emerged a few gyms as more and more persons are paying greater attention to their physique. With proper education of these persons, who may just be lifting weights for body shape, they can transition into bodybuilders and do so competitively.

Additionally, there are persons who know the ins and outs of the sport and in them still resides some spunk. Their knowledge can begin the process of exhuming bodybuilding from its abyss.

What though is needed most of all is that will to get it all started.

If not, it can be said, without contradiction, that bodybuilding in St Vincent and the Grenadines is resting in eternal peace.