Some time ago a correspondent to this newspaper suggested a fund-raising campaign to provide Guyana with a world class track and stadium. Nobody responded to the suggestion, although clearly if anything like that were to be done, it would have to happen within the context of a larger government-approved project – and therein, perhaps, lies a problem.
The rationale for such a proposal is clear – and it is not just raising the profile of the country on the world stage, and giving its people a source of pride. Everyone can see, of course, the phenomenal success the Jamaicans have had in the field of athletics, and how even Barbados, Trinidad and the Bahamas have produced world-class track athletes. It was a success, nevertheless, which did not come overnight and which in the case of the Jamaicans particularly has required sustained investment of one kind or another over an extended period.
It is not enough simply to have world class facilities; there also have to be the human skills available to train potential competitors; the financial resources in place which would make it possible for them to compete in international meets on an ongoing basis; and most of all, facilities in several parts of the country where youngsters with (or without) talent could train.
The last mentioned is very important, because acquiring the discipline and the skills to equip someone to compete at the international level takes years. Raw talent is never enough in such circumstances. It will be remembered that in the hey-day of cricket in this country that many of the secondary schools boasted competent teams which competed against one another, and above all, the community centres on the sugar estates provided a proving ground for young cricketers. The best of these were siphoned off into the national team, and from there into the West Indies side.
Perhaps the most compelling argument for looking at the revival of sport at all levels here is to provide young people with an outlet for their energies, and teach them the discipline which can spill over into other areas of their lives. The evidence from elsewhere is clear: training in a sport discipline can have beneficial effects in the classroom, and gives a youngster a sense of pride and self-worth. That so many of our youths are aspiring to the life-style of a drug-dealer and are being seduced into a life of crime should alarm us. Providing educational opportunities in and of itself may have only a limited impact on the situation. Education requires sustained work and effort and the rewards are a long way down the road from a child’s point of view.
A network of sports clubs of one kind or another where youngsters could go in the evening, at weekends and during the school holidays, could supply a structure to their lives which they cannot get at home, and which liming on the streets surely won’t provide either. It is true that there are some remarkable clubs already in existence in various parts of the country, but the problem is that there are not nearly enough of them.
A major impediment would be a dearth of human resources. Running a club or a sports centre for youths takes time, effort, patience and enormous dedication. It is not something to be taken on lightly, and there are probably not so many people throughout the length and breadth of this land who would be prepared to do it. However, if the will was there and the financial resources were made available all things might become possible.
Stage one, of course, would involve a government policy framework, drawn up in partnership with those with experience in the field, plus knowledgeable representatives from the diaspora who might be willing to assist in one way or another. It would require that the government be open to suggestions from all sources, irrespective of political sympathies, and that they not attempt to strangle an otherwise potentially viable project by planting their own placemen in key positions. What is wanted is people who are committed, who can make a contribution, and who have some imagination and administrative skill. Those are qualifications which do not reside exclusively with the PPP.
We are losing the current generation, and this has serious implications for all of us. Some of them might even have the potential to bring glory to their homeland if they are given the opportunity and the training, and while most would never be in this class they could still enjoy whichever sporting activity they had selected to participate in, and as said above, they would in the process acquire the discipline necessary to reward their endeavours in some unrelated field.
