Bri­an Lewis

Pres­sure...re­al pres­sure and stress. I'm blind­sided by the scale and enor­mi­ty of what is un­fold­ing in the pub­lic do­main.

Many peo­ple in­volved in sport in T&T are feel­ing un­cer­tain; some de­spon­dent, with their trust be­trayed.

Two years away from the Rio Olympics–new Min­is­ter, new Per­ma­nent Sec­re­tary, new deputy Per­ma­nent Sec­re­tary, new SportTT CEO and Board.

The sav­ing grace is that na­tion­al sport or­gan­i­sa­tions (NSOs) charged with gov­ern­ing, man­ag­ing and ad­min­is­trat­ing their re­spec­tive sports are still fair­ly sta­ble and must now step up to the plate and en­sure that the neg­a­tive as­pects are calm­ly nav­i­gat­ed.

The cur­rent de­ba­cle high­lights the im­por­tance of the Min­istry of Sport and the Sport Com­pa­ny of T&T un­der­stand­ing that their role and re­spon­si­bil­i­ty isn't to run sport and as­sume the role and re­spon­si­bil­i­ty of the na­tion­al sport or­gan­i­sa­tions.

The NSOs are the sport lead­ers and sport man­agers. Many have asked, "Where do we go from here?"

There is no choice but to face the pain, dif­fi­cul­ties and hard­ships. Cast aside all the hin­drances and the past im­per­fec­tions.

The beau­ty and pow­er of sport as a force for good will live on af­ter the trou­ble and dis­tress; the dif­fi­cul­ty and pain of be­trayed trust.

We need a fresh start for sport. Clipped wings can grow again.

It is al­ways dark­est be­fore day­light. There is a sil­ver lin­ing be­hind every gray cloud.

On the grayest of days there is the gleam of sun­light.

To over­come shame and re­morse re­quires courage and re­build­ing of trust.

Cast aside all re­gret, tri­als and tribu­la­tions and press on to the sum­mit.

Sport is a pos­i­tive force for good.

No weapon formed against sport will pros­per.

Our youth and young peo­ple who pos­sess God giv­en ath­let­ic tal­ent and po­ten­tial must have the op­por­tu­ni­ty to ful­fill their po­ten­tial.

The pos­i­tive pow­er of sport will not be de­feat­ed. A fresh start for sport in T&T is im­per­a­tive, be­cause in ad­ver­si­ty, fail­ure and dis­ap­point­ment can be found the seed of op­por­tu­ni­ty and progress.

The clouds will clear.

Be re­silient, per­sis­tent; be of good courage.

The pow­er of in­ter­na­tion­al achieve­ment on the Olympic and world stage is re­spect­ed and recog­nised. T&T ben­e­fits from the pos­i­tive glob­al pub­lic­i­ty it re­ceives from the sport­ing achieve­ment of our ath­letes and na­tion­al teams.

Sport can make a pos­i­tive and trans­for­ma­tion­al con­tri­bu­tion to the sus­tain­able so­cial and eco­nom­ic de­vel­op­ment of T&T.

Tem­po­rary set­backs don't de­fine the true po­ten­tial; the pos­i­tive, pro­gres­sive and con­struc­tive re­al­i­ty of sport in T&T.

In­tegri­ty, hon­esty, fair play, courage and de­ter­mi­na­tion are es­sen­tial and core val­ues of sport.

Stem the tide. Be a part of the so­lu­tion. Live those val­ues. Rise up and move for­ward.

Don't evade re­spon­si­bil­i­ty for what we do, pro­tect­ing our­selves from be­ing held ac­count­able for the con­se­quences of our be­hav­iour by de­flect­ing at­ten­tion on­to oth­ers.

As we walk in the dark val­ley fear no evil. Pos­i­tive ac­tions will change the head­lines.

Lead­ers en­trust­ed with the re­spon­si­bil­i­ty of stew­ard­ship and ser­vice in dif­fi­cult times must have the an­swers and the ac­tion plan to nav­i­gate rough seas and dan­ger.

For­ti­tude, per­se­ver­ance and an in­domitable spir­it are the qual­i­ties re­quired to over­come ad­ver­si­ty.

Fear not! T&T sport shall over­come. God bless.

Bri­an Lewis is the Pres­i­dent of the T&T Olympic Com­mit­tee. The views ex­pressed are not nec­es­sar­i­ly those of the Olympic Com­mit­tee.