Same old Sankey

There are some songs that are not worthy for air play, nor are they suitable for auditory consumption.

However, these songs will be played and will be listened to in some form or fashion.

The same has to be said of the way we prepare for the various schools’ competitions, as it has been the same old tune being played year after year.

But despite being heard but not listened to, this column will once again play it.

So, as we move into term one of the 2018-2019 academic year, there is evidently no visible changes in ploughing the ground for the two main schools’ competitions – football and netball, as well as table tennis.

Three weeks of the term have already slipped by, and preparatory work in most instances for the netball and football competitions is just taking place.

After all is said and done, those who are in charge of the administration of schools’ sports, expect a bountiful harvest of talent emerging from the exercises.

Yes, both competitions would be convened and executed, but would the respective disciplines be better off thereafter?

For too long this type of approach has been in place, and in the end the outcomes have not changed.

One gets the impression that some persons with the clout, either don’t understand or have little interest in what happens with the schools’ competitions, except to give the bureaucratic stamp to their hosting.

They, who make the decisions, fail to acknowledge that the skills sets needed for football and netball involve in-depth technical training in order for these disciplines to foster and pursue a meaningful development pathway.

Whatever success is gained from these two disciplines, comes primarily from the units which operate at the community and club levels.

Let us then accept that the competitions are in the making and would run as usual, hence little or no alterations are possible in terms of better preparations.

Therefore, a plan of action should be in place for the 2019-2020 academic year, with a mission of reversing the way things are done.

This in right on cue as this column’s last two expositions dealt with the current state of netball and football here in St Vincent and the Grenadines, and the fact that there needs to be some sort of attention paid to the two, granted the relative standard of others in the region.

Here, both the St Vincent and the Grenadines Football Federation and the St Vincent and the Grenadines Netball Association, should become proactive and ensure that their disciplines get the right footing at the schools level.

This is an imperative, since many of the players who participate in the schools’ competitions, eventually fill the various St Vincent and the Grenadines outfits.

The two national associations, though their strategic planning, must work their way in the school system, in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, as it is well known that many of our schools do not have the technical personnel to impart the necessary knowledge to the student–athletes.

Additionally, heads of the educational institutions should not act as blockages to sports, even if they have little interest.

This may require these heads to construct ways of ensuring that preparations take place in the long vacation period, so that some accepted level of readiness for the competitions are in place as the new school year sets in.

They have to see the empowerment of the youth population as paramount over them just wielding their authority.

In changing the status quo, the many football and netball units which operate here in St Vincent and the Grenadines, can make it a matter of interest to assists some of the schools, hence serve as a feeder for their larger sports programmes.

It is high time that, as a people, we put a higher value on sports and its positive effect on social transformation.

This is so timely, as at present our country is grappling with increase incidences of criminal activity, and sports again is being fingered, and rightly so, as a viable alternative to such criminality.