PASO consultant calls on government to do more for sports

BY DEAN GREENAWAY

Pan American Sports Organization (PASO) consultant Eric King of Canada concluded a three day visit to the BVI on Friday morning, by calling on government to do more for sports in the territory, after meeting with BVI Olympic Committee officials, Minister of Sports Lloyd Black, Director of Youth and Sports Robert Chalwell and several sporting federation heads.

“In the BVI, without being unkind, I get the impression that the government is treating sport on a peace meal basis, giving $5000 to this group, $5000 to that group and $5000 to elsewhere, whereas they should be making a major commitment, using the Olympic Committee to decide where the best opportunities are, to improve the performances of Olympic athletes,” King stated.

King, who also paid a similar visit to the USVI prior to his BVI stint, was here as a facilitator for PASO who has just introduced a special program to help 20 Caribbean countries whose high performance athletes have not performed as well as the other 22 countries within the Pan American region and have budget $1 million annually including this year for the next four years through to the Olympics in Beijing.

King explained that the $1 million is to be divided among the 20 countries at $50,000 per year for each country. “The objective is to help elevate the high performance athletes—the elite athletes in these countries—so that they get closer to the podium than they have in the past,” King said. “History has shown that these 20 countries have won 103 medals in international competitions and regional games. Jamaica has won 60% of those medals. The other countries have only accounted for 1% of the medals won by PASO organizations at major games, so that’s the objective of the exercise.”  King, who recently paid a similar visit to Antigua and Dominica, said he has been assigned these countries along with the U.S and British Virgin Islands. “I am working with them to try and help to identify sports and athletes where they might direct some of this $50,000. This special program is being restricted to individual sports. Team sports are not being considered.” BVI Olympic Committee president Rey O’Neal said King did a wonderful job of explaining to the various federations what the PASO program is, and specifically, the individual sports programs. “I think the sports that would most likely to benefit from this particular PASO program are track and field, tennis and sailing,” O’Neal pointed out.”

“How much of the $50,000 will go to each sport is yet to be determined and will depend on the particular need of the sport,” O’Neal explained. “You have to put the resources where results are most likely to be seen. This is geared towards athletes at the elite or sub elite level and that is the direction we are hoping that the associations will put in their specific proposals.”

King said his BVI visit went very well, and noted that a number of things have become apparent not only here, but in the other countries he visited. He said that with the exception of the U.S. Virgin Islands, where facilities are not as much of a problem to them as in the BVI, Antigua and Dominica, the needs are consistent. “Facilities is a major short coming it seems to me and there needs to be something done about that,” He said. “I’m of the opinion that in order to motivate athletes to want to take an interest in becoming an elite athlete you have to have good facilities—a good swimming pool or a good track—in order for them to make a long term commitment. Experts will tell you that it takes 8-10 years to develop a high performance athlete. And you have to start at a very early age, depending on the sport, but, you have to start creating them. High performance athletes are not created overnight.”

The PASO consultant said that in order to get a dozen athletes capable of competing at the international level, there must be thousands of athletes at the base of the pyramid, something that wasn’t evident here. “In some of the countries I’ve visited, I’ve seen children and youth participating in sport. I haven’t seen that evidence here. Perhaps I was in the right place at the right time,” he said. King said in his discussion with the Director of Youth and Sports, he suggested that putting money in sports—youth sports particularly—for every $100 or $1000 that the government invests on encouraging children to participate in sports and having an active lifestyle, that investment will reap millions of dollars in rewards in cost to the health care system, something he has used with sports ministers in Canada.

Using himself as an example, the 67 year old said: “I have been playing sports all my life and I was still playing Soccer when I retired at 65. I play golf all summer and play squash three times a week in the winter,” he explained. “I don’t cost the Canadian healthcare system very much. I have an annual check up, my health is good, and I attribute it to the fact that I have had an active lifestyle from the time I was a child. I’ve been participating in sports for more than 60 years.”

While he commend Dominica on developing its national sports policy, King said he suggested to the Director of Sports the need for one here. “I gather there’s not a sport policy in the BVI,” he noted. “They need a national sports policy with short and long term objectives for the development of sports.” Another thing that is apparent King said is its wishful thinking that in the countries he has visited, if they believe or aspire to develop high performance athletes that will perform well in Beijing. He said PASO’s short term goal is the Pan Am Games in Rio and the Olympics in Beijing. “I’m of the opinion that it is very short term goal. Its mission impossible to raise athletes from where they are now, with a couple of exceptions,” he aid. “In one or two countries, there are a few athletes who are close, but the vast majority has a long, long way to go. Most sporting organizations I’ve met with, has very few athletes at the base of the pyramid. You have to have a lot of athletes participating in order for the half dozen or so, to come to the top of the pyramid to compete internationally. King suggested the Olympic Committees in the four countries set short term goals of winning medals at regional games—Carifta, CAC, Pan American and Commonwealth Games and not to worry about the Olympic Games as just yet. “While these goals and objectives should be ambitious, they should also be realistic,” he cautioned. “To think that they can come from nowhere to producing Olympic athletes overnight, is not realistic. Get your athletes on the podium in the regional games. If by the 2012 Olympics, you get athletes in the top eight or top 16 in the world that is a major accomplishment.” Governments, King said, need to become more involved. He noted that with the exception of the USVI, they only support the Olympic committees in the Olympic year to get them prepared for the games. “I’ve met with a number of sports ministers and I’ve told each of them, that is a total waste of money. They might as well put their money somewhere else, as opposed to giving the Olympic Committee money to get to the Olympic Games,” he noted. 

 “The government has to make a commitment to high performance sport every year. If the BVI government and the Olympic Committee want their athletes to do well at the Pan Am Games in Rio, and the Olympic Games in Beijing, they have got to start spending money developing those athletes now, in 2005. Don’t wait until 2007,” he pointed out. “That’s too late. It cannot be done. The evidence I’ve seen, is that the governments are not doing enough to support the high performance athletes.”