Shape up or ship out!

A new executive to lead the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Netball Association is now in place. The Executive was elected from among those present at the Annual General Meeting held last Monday at the Thomas Saunders Secondary School.{{more}}

As formality would have it, one must go through the process of elections. Reading the minds of those present at Monday’s Meeting, it was, “Let us get it over and done with”.

President Doris Mc Intosh was given another term to continue at the helm of an organization that she has led since 2004.

So, too, were some others who have been around the sport for some time, contributing one way or another.

The election of this Executive is the acid test for Mc Intosh and her crew, as the sport is in dire need of some resuscitation and vitality.

Do the members elected have the medicine to help the ailing patient? Again, I think not.

The St. Vincent and the Grenadines Netball Association continues to live on borrowed time.

Even the manner in which last Monday’s meeting was conducted demonstrated this. One would have thought that an Association that has built up a favourable reputation over the years would have gone past the stage of looking around in a meeting hall to see who are willing to seek election to the various posts.

This antiquated approach to the operations of major national sports associations must find itself in the abyss of the archives of administration.

As it turned out, the cocoon weaved around former players and friends of Netball has given birth to the new Executive.

The time has come to look outside of the realm of the netballers and their immediate cohorts, as the sport is pining away, constricted by some inept persons in key positions.

McIntosh, I believe, means well for the sport, but lacks the support of those entrusted to scaffold her. And the wheel has been re-invented, as there is just a re-arrangement rather than genuine change.

While she watches others backs, she leaves her own bare and exposed to the elements.

Sadly, some of the dead weights had the gall and the audacity to seek re-election. They have either been dysfunctional, mal functioned or were simply missing in action for the better part of the last two years.

Have they been converted to the gospel of accountability and good stewardship? I doubt it, as they have been slaves to the sin of administrative inefficiency, while masquerading as worthy stewards.

With all this said, Mc Intosh and crew are going full steam ahead to start the National Club Competition next month. What a travesty!

I pleaded in a previous exposition with those in charge of the national Netball set up to at least forgo the 2008 competition, to refocus and rethink, but it has fallen on deaf ears.

They are going to start a competition that for the past three years was replete with poor organization and lack of direction. Can this Executive turn around the premier competition in a month?

To show that many were missing in action, the planned constituency competition in the latter part of last year was started, stopped, then finally aborted. Yet they are going into another year of activities without evaluating what were the strengths and what or who were the stumbling blocks to progress.

Resting on their laurels that St. Vincent and the Grenadines is ranked 12th in the world may sound good, but on the ground the situation is not the same. Whilst those statistics are not lies, they could be misleading, as we continuously fail to put a development programme in place to show vision.

At the Under-16 level, St. Vincent and the Grenadines is struggling to hold its own against some of the regional countries, but catches up at the senior. But can they continue to play catch up and hope for miracles?

Yes, the new Executive is in place, but I am calling on the Netball fraternity to ensure that the ladies and good gentleman elected to serve make their two years fruitful. Not looking for a revolution, at least, let us see the sport start turning corners. It is either you shape up or ship out. Similarly, I am also calling on the units that participate in the national tournaments that they be converted into full fledged clubs, as we are just spinning our tops in mud.

Mc Intosh has been palavering on this issue for the past three years, yet nothing has come out of her mouthings. This is your time of reckoning, Mrs. Mac.

Also carrying dead weight and seemingly serving no purpose but obstruction is that “Mound” erected at the Sion Hill Playing Field.

kingroache@yahoo.com