Social conscience in sports

THE RECENT ACT of kindness by the executive of the St Vincent and the Grenadines Cricket Association Inc., in which that organisation has undertaken to provide the St Clair Dacon Secondary School with whiteboards to the tune of $10 000, exemplifies a sincere commitment to national development.

In total, the project, financed by the national cricket body, will see 14 classrooms fitted with the whiteboards.

This latest contribution to that educational institution is in keeping with the association’s social impact programme.

But the donation of the whiteboards follows on similar benevolence, in which monies were donated to the Zero Hunger Trust Fund, while at the start of the 2019/2020 academic year, five students were presented with cash awards to assist in their education.

Additionally, in September of last year, the St Vincent Grammar School was the recipient of barbecue grills, compliments the SVGCA Inc.

Similarly, in 2018, the SVGCA Inc. provided four female cricketers with donations of tools, as the quartet at that time were pursuing certification in the Caribbean Vocational Qualification (CVQ).

Whilst the SVGCA Inc. has not been the lone sporting organisation or community group to help in the field of education; the fact that the national cricket body has in place a social impact programme thus enabling it to tend to the needs of others, speaks volumes for forward thinking.

But in lauding the SVGCA Inc., one cannot help but mention some of the other sporting organisations, which see if it part of their social mandate to assist others in need.

Among the consistent sporting organisations has been the Breakaway Masters Organisation, which has an Educational Assistance Fund in which students are given monetary help to attend secondary school.

It is also mandatory that part of the winnings of the team that champs the Breakaway Masters firms’ competition, goes to a charity.

Too, the Sion Hill Sports Club has an annual food basket for needy persons in the Sion Hill community.

Additionally, the Blue Marlins Swim Club stages a walk in which all of the donations go towards Scorch Cancer Foundation.

Meanwhile, the North Leeward Predators football club, last December, donated a portion of its prize monies earned in the 2018/2019 national club championships, in the form of food baskets to selected persons in the some of the villages within North Leeward and its immediate environs.

Kudos to those other sporting units, which do their do in helping others, great or small, but who have not been mentioned above, in any detail.

This column though, is also aware that there are several other corporate entities in St Vincent and the Grenadines, that help student athletes, especially with their schooling, along with supplements and gear.

However, some have chosen to remain under the radar, and are not seeking out any sort of publicity from their benevolence.

Sports provide that avenue for administrators to gain empirical evidence of the plight of those with whom they have direct contact, namely, the players and players’ relatives.

Hence, these administrators can exercise that sense of appreciation, by coming to the aid of those who most in need.

It is known that many players disappear from sporting units because there was not that safety net, that caring support for those who fall into the category of the vulnerable.

Sporting units in this country, as a matter of their social responsibility, find ways and means of giving back to their locale. They may not be able to do so in the magnitude as the SVGCA Inc. has been doing for the past three years, as that organisation is in good financial standing.

But whatever little sports units can do to better their immediate communities, would be indications of possessing that social conscience.

Simple things, such as helping out with some chores for the elderly persons in the community; engaging in clean-up campaigns and undertakings of such, are most welcomed.

Sporting organisations, whether at the national or community level, should make it part of their operations and policy, to “give back” to the communities they serve and support them.

Much more can be gained than winning trophies and other accolades, by freely giving to the needy.

The unfortunate case though, is that some sporting units only know about receiving.