SVG sports alliance launched

The St Vincent and the Grenadines Alliance for Sports and Physical Education was launched on Friday at the media centre at the Arnos Vale Playing Field.{{more}}

Over 80 participants attended the launch, under the theme “Sports: A Window to Human Development”.

Corey Hicks, author, marketing executive, director of track and ield at the American Heritage Preparatory School in South Florida, delivered the feature address.

Hicks detailed his journey from a struggling student without vision to an Olympic athlete who learnt from sports how to become a competitor in the classroom and life.

He said an individual cannot be powerful and pitiful at the same time and suggested that one must apply oneself to develop the required life skills to become a productive citizen.

He further spoke of three pillars of human development: physical, mental and emotional, adding that success is more than 90 per cent mental.

Hicks cited two studies from the 1950s and 1970s, which over five years reduced the amount of classroom instructional time for a study group of students and replaced that time with physical education.

The study found a significant increase in the grade point average of the study group.

Hicks stated that a teaching approach recognizing the individuality of humanity and thinking outside the box is vital to classroom success.

Also speaking at the launch was Director of the Trinidad and Tobago Alliance for Sports and Physical Education (TTASPE) Andre Collins.

Collins spoke of his group’s 10-year journey from obscurity to being ranked as a top 10 international organisation, working to develop people and communities through sports and physical education.

Regionally, TTASPE is seen as the mentor.

Also speaking at the launch was chair of the Vincentian sports alliance, Ian Hypolite.

Hypolite said he believes one must hold on to the old adage that it takes a village to raise a child.

He further said this is even more important in small-island development states and more pronounced in underdeveloped communities and villages.

He asked that funded departments abandon their silo mentality of singularity development and move towards participatory development that encompasses collective thinking and responsibility.

Hypolite told SEARCHLIGHT after the launch that communities are void of opportunity, mentorship, leadership and human development.

He said “the family is the strength of the nation and where there are strong families we find contributing citizens and functioning communities”.

The group will now work on formulating its constitution go out into the communities, especially the high-risk ones, and begin to change lives through physical education and sports, Hypolite said.

St Vincent and the Grenadines is the fourth nation to launch a national alliance for sports and physical education, following Trinidad and Tobago, St Kitts and Nevis, and Jamaica. (RT)