Advancing cooperation in local sports

The time is now, more that ever that a conscious effort be made by the ational sports association, community organisations, clubs, teams and other stakeholders in sports here in St Vincent and the Grenadines, to begin to see cooperation as a means of bettering our sporting stock and craft a sports product.

This is so because we are not blessed with a bounty of financial wealth, neither an abundance of facilities, hence, the need to pool, share and most of all, collaborate.

Whilst we bemoan what is lacking, we should equally hold high the wealth of human resources. For certain, we should optimise what we have to move us to the left phase in the continuum.

Unfortunately, with what we can boast about and hold aloft as our main assets, invariably becomes our biggest bugbear and downfall.

St Vincent and the Grenadines’ achievement in sports is left wanting and short of its potential, as many of those who matter most, do not see the need to join forces, share ideas and engage with each one, help one approach. So what we have ended up with, is that “dog eat dog” mentality, which comes out in the operations of some sporting entities.

Left untouched and unattended, we have reached that juncture where each one is fighting for the same thing, the same way, independently, and getting nowhere, as in most instances, they do not have what it takes to be self-sufficient.

Starting with the personnel can be the way out of our rot, as there are many administrators, coaches and the like, who have achieved some levels of proficiency and success, from the way they do things.

It may stand to reason that whatever is done, wherever there are best practices, then sharing will become the next process, as we chase after that goal in making Vincentian sports better.

Should it be hard for one coach who may be adept in a particular field and is endowed with a special talent, to pass on that knowledge to fellow coaches, with the aim of having them better informed?

What about sharing contacts of personnel outside of St Vincent and the Grenadines, who have much needed expertise, which can be beneficial to coaches and sports administrators here?

Additionally, when there are scholarship and training opportunities, one would think that every effort should be made to spread the word and ensure that every possible candidate is given an equal chance to pursue whatever course is on offer.

But the process can advance a step further by the establishment of coaches committees for the various disciplines, so knowledge is not confined to a selected few, and as many persons are able to feed from those who have blazed the trail, or those who have attained a higher level of certification.

Whilst this exposition is putting forward what can be merely an ideal setting, cognisance is rife that we have to cater for individual differences, inclusive of sociability, to make this proposed cooperation workable.

It is not a far fetched thought that this cannot be achieved or even pursued, as it is deeply embedded in everyone who is involved in local sports, and it is for St Vincent and the Grenadines to be better than what our returns currently show.

Contingent though on any success to the sharing of knowledge, expertise and that anticipation unison of stakeholders in sports, must be the clear, unambiguous objective that is all about St Vincent and the Grenadines first. It means that everything that is done among all the sporting disciplines practised here, must go along the line of a collective.

Therefore, clubs, teams and any other sporting unit, become secondary, as country’s overall successes in sports take precedence and priority.

And, critical to any sort of movement towards a bonafide approach to the achievement of cohesion among sports personnel, has to be the purging of the much malignant ego, which over the years has constipated the smooth flow of sports in this country.

Advancing local cooperation is sports is paramount, as we are going nowhere fast with the autonomous, selfish, chest beating way of doing things.

Working together for the benefit of St Vincent and the Grenadines, especially in sports,s has to be placed at the top of the pile, before we can see any meaningful outcomes.