Bri­an Lewis

In one year's time, Scot­land will stage the 2014 Com­mon­wealth Games in Glas­gow.

As much as the Com­mon­wealth Games is known as the friend­ly games, it's very much at the high end or elite-lev­el end of the sport spec­trum. There are those who ar­gue that Com­mon­wealth Games isn't as im­por­tant as a World Cham­pi­onship. In the world that the Trinidad and To­ba­go Olympic Com­mit­tee (TTOC) oc­cu­pies, all Games un­der the aus­pices of the Olympic Com­mit­tee have sig­nif­i­cance and im­por­tance. If on­ly for the sim­ple fact that you have to creep be­fore you walk.

The 2014 Com­mon­wealth Games has a cru­cial role in this coun­try's qua­dren­ni­al ef­fort which cul­mi­nates at the Rio 2016 Olympics. Next year T&T will par­tic­i­pate at three events that fall un­der the ex­clu­sive au­thor­i­ty of the T&T Olympic Com­mit­tee (TTOC)–the Youth Olympics, Com­mon­wealth and Cen­tral Amer­i­ca and Caribbean Games.

In the quest for ten Olympic gold medals by 2024, stake­hold­ers must em­brace the strate­gic re­al­i­ty that Olympic-type mul­ti-sport events such as the ones that will be held next year are im­por­tant sign posts. Be­tween now and 2024 there can be no am­bi­gu­i­ty. Re­sults at Youth Olympics, Youth Com­mon­wealth, CAC, Com­mon­wealth and Pan Am games will be an in­di­ca­tor of like­ly suc­cess at the Olympic Games.

A fas­ci­nat­ing as­pect of the sport world is the con­tra­dic­to­ry but yet com­pli­men­ta­ry mind­set that is need­ed when goal set­ting. Elite or high-per­for­mance sport and sport for all have dif­fer­ent ap­proach­es, means and ends. In the ab­sence of a long-term ath­lete de­vel­op­ment frame­work that acts as a guide, a na­tion­al sport or­gan­i­sa­tion can mis­di­rect and fo­cus on the wrong ob­jec­tives.

Less mon­ey doesn't nec­es­sar­i­ly mean that you are at a dis­ad­van­tage. There is no short­age of en­er­gy, ef­fort and pas­sion.

On the elite end, the goal isn't to com­pete it's to dom­i­nate. To be a pace­set­ter. We don't just want to be in the race we want to win the race. A pas­sion for ex­cel­lence and an ob­ses­sion to be the best aren't nec­es­sar­i­ly a neg­a­tive. Why put a lim­it to your am­bi­tion and pas­sion? Fear is not some­thing we should run away from. In­stead we should chal­lenge tra­di­tion­al think­ing. We need to be more goal ori­ent­ed and pay more at­ten­tion to the tar­get than the prob­lem and val­ue the re­sults.

When faced with try­ing to ac­com­plish a big goal one of the most daunt­ing ques­tions is: "Where do I start?" It be­gins with the at­ti­tude that says im­pos­si­ble is noth­ing. We will make it hap­pen. Suc­cess is not for the weak-mind­ed or the weak-heart­ed. Noth­ing ven­tured, noth­ing gained. In­vari­ably our life de­ci­sions come down to a choice. Are we mo­ti­vat­ed by fear or faith?

Most peo­ple pre­fer to play it safe for fear of fail­ure. In the world of sport, as it is in life, it's our dai­ly de­ci­sions and habits that ul­ti­mate­ly pro­vide the out­come.

For some on the twin Is­land Re­pub­lic, world class is an un­re­al­is­tic dream and fan­ta­sy. What­ev­er world-class suc­cess­es we achieve in the world of sport is an aber­ra­tion–a stroke of luck or that some fairy god­fa­ther made it hap­pen.

I don't share that be­lief. This coun­try, long ago, proved that our sports­men and women are world class in sport and de­served to be on the podi­um. Our chal­lenge is to sim­ply be­lieve that we can do it again and again. It's es­sen­tial that we fo­cus on what we want rather than what we don't want. It's about start­ing from where you are at us­ing the re­sources you do have.

Bri­an Lewis is the pres­i­dent of the T&T Olympic Com­mit­tee.

Vis­it http:// www.ttoc.org for more in­for­ma­tion on Olymp­ism and the Olympic move­ment.