Reply to Keith Joseph

Fri, Aug 31, 2012

Editor: As I read your column in The News newspaper dated 24th August, 2012, I was saying to myself, what an unfair statement with an ounce of truth.{{more}}

At one time, it was the grass that the athletes had to run on which was the major factor for the poor performance of our athletes, but now it’s the coaches one hundred per cent (Wow).

Mr Joseph, it is totally unfair to put the sole blame on coaches for the low standard of sports in St Vincent and the Grenadines, while you suck all the honey that is available as General Secretary of the National Olympic Committee, a position you hope to hold until death and President of Team Athletics SVG, another until death position you are hoping to obtain.

How do you expect the coaches to go the extra mile while you ignore their worth by taking your friend/coach from St Kitts to the Olympic Games in London, creating havoc among the contingent from St Kitts and bringing shame to our Vincentian athletes. (Blast Off Red)

How do you expect co-operation from coaches when Natasha Mayers couldn’t get her coach to accompany her to the World Championship and Commonwealth Games? Is there an exception to the Olympics?

How do you expect the coaches to be motivated while you show no sense of national pride and support for the same athletes under your presidency? (Trinidad and Tobago National Track and Field Championships at the Hasley Crawford Stadium during the month of July 2012).

How do you expect coaches to work harder when you have been in office as head of Team Athletics SVG now for two years, making no attempts whatsoever to call a meeting?

How do you expect better performance for the coaches, while you as General Secretary of the National Olympic Committee, who is supposed to offer guidance to your affiliates, are holding an unconstitutional position on Team Athletics SVG?

I must agree that some coaches need to do more, especially those who have gone to every coaching course. They only pay lip service on the streets and in the electronic media, giving the impression that their hands are tied after thirty years of no adoption of any youths. However, the blame must be placed on the administrators in sports because all that in the above mentioned are factors that would place sports in the situation that it is in now.

Navaran James